What was supposed to be a fun social stop after work quickly turned into a nightmare for 25-year-old Clayton Denny, a Marine Veteran. Two men beat Denny for the “crime” of objecting to their use of racial slurs, according to Raw Story. The men likely won’t face hate crime penalties in the racially motivated attack unless charged with a federal crime, even after leaving him for dead in an alley in Sheridan, Wyoming.
Handshake From Hell
Denny stopped at the Beaver Creek Saloon after riding around taking photos. What began as a handshake with two men, whom police identified as Dylan Dygert, 21, and Jacob Olson, 26, turned into an argument from hell. Denny confirmed to police they argued over a racial slur.
The argument spilled into the street after the bartender kicked them out, and Denny walked away.
Detectives say Dygert followed Denny into the ally, and Olson followed Dygert, and that the next time Denny appears in the video it’s obvious something happened to him – Denny struggles to stand up. Denny told police he heard the men shouting racial epithets at him as they beat him, and that as he was on the ground, in pain, he thought he might die, according to the Billings Gazette.
Sheridan Police found Denny early May 8 with head and facial wounds that needed “six staples and more than 20 stitches [sic]” to close. He was treated for a concussion and a fractured orbital (eye socket) as well, according to the Sheridan Press.
Confronting Racism
The Sheridan Police Department issued a press release on May 11 that implied they’d received accusations of improper handling of the investigation. It said in part,
“Speculation has surfaced on social media regarding the circumstances of the alleged battery, the handling of the investigation and priority level assigned to the investigation … Theories, rumors and speculation on social media have no bearing on the investigation or are of any help to the victim. [sic]”
When Sheridan Police confronted Dygert, who was already in jail, he had blood on his shoes and a swollen right hand. He told detectives that he and Olson “got into a fight with a black man” and punched him over the racial slur argument. Police later caught up to Olson on May 12, after witnesses said they overheard him saying he thought “a guy he hurt ‘might be dead'” while on the phone with someone, according to the Billings Gazette.
Both men claimed they beat Denny in “self-defense,” but police didn’t buy the story – surveillance footage told a different story, and police arrested the two later that day.
A Federal Crime With Federal Time?
The portion of any crime that falls under the umbrella of a “hate crime,” is treated as a separate criminal element punishable by separate penalties. Most states have statutes dealing with hate crimes, and the federal government also charges and punishes hate crimes separately using the federal crime statutes under Chapter 13, § 249 of U.S. Code.
Although federal hate crime penalties depend on the underlying crime, they generally consist of 10 years in federal prison plus thousands in fines – and penalties are handed out in addition to any penalties state penalties.
Denny’s ethnicity – he’s African American and Native American from the Chippewa Cree Tribe – should put Dygert and Olson’s racially motivated crime squarely in the “hate crimes” category, but not in this case.
Sheridan Police charged Dygert and Olson with aggravated assault and battery, so they’ll face a decade in prison and thousands in fines if convicted. They left it up to the county to pursue further charges, probably because the police don’t want to bear the brunt of the fallout for what’s about to come.
You see, hate crimes aren’t punished in Wyoming – at least not separately, anyway – and there probably won’t be any further charges. Wyoming is one of five states that don’t have a “hate crimes statute,” according to the Anti-Defamation League (ADF).
Prosecutors can’t charge anyone with a hate crime even if they wanted to, which is what makes this the perfect case for the feds to step in and charge Dygert and Olson with a federal crime under their stiffer hate crimes statutes.
If the prosecutor doesn’t refer Dygert and Olson to the government, or if the government doesn’t charge the two with a federal crime under the hate crime statutes, it would be like telling them it’s OK for racists to commit egregiously disgusting crimes.
There is no world in which that’s OK, but victimizing the victim a second time appears to be Wyoming’s specialty – way to pass the political football, guys.
H/T Rawstory
Featured Image: Screenshot Colaboration Via DallyUp, Billings Gazette,and Sheridan Press.
