A 62-year-old white man convicted of attempting to run down six Black men at the site of the Rosewood massacre has been sentenced to a single year in prison.
A 62-year-old white man convicted of attempting to run down six Black men at the site of the Rosewood massacre has been sentenced to a single year in prison.
David Allen Emanuel appeared solemn and reserved on Thursday as federal Judge Allen Winsor delivered the sentence on six counts of hate crimes for attempting to run over Historian Marvin Dunn, his son and four other Black men who were surveying Dunn’s Rosewood property to build a memorial for the massacre.
The judge’s sentence called for 12 months plus one day in federal prison for each of the six charges, which he allowed to run concurrently. The Justice Department had sought a “substantial” prison term of between five and six years.
A 1 year prison sentence for an attempted terrorist attack? WTF IS WRONG WITH LITERALLY EVERYONE IN THIS STORY? How is everyone talking about this like the guy made a racist joke, and should be forgiven just cause he's old, and not like he literally just tried to murder 6 people because of their race?
I think you misunderstood who was being quoted in the article...Marvin Dunn is the 83 year old historian and black man who was almost run over. He was the one calling for forgiveness and saying those things to the judge. I recommend you read it again with that perspective
No, I read it with that perspective and I stand by what I said. Marvin Dunn is probably a better human than me, since even though I'm fairly anti-carceral, I cannot fathom letting someone back on the streets a year after they tried to murder 6 people with a 4 ton piece of heavy machinery.
Fine with me if the victim wants to express forgiveness in a personal or spiritual sense but that should be irrelevant to the criminal case. There should be consequences when a Judge / court fails its duty to serve justice and protect the broader community.
In theory, concurrent sentences are an acknowledgement that it is not fair to give multiple punishments for the same crime. However, it is often desirable to charge someone with multiple offences fir the same crime, as they might be found innocent of the more serious offense (or have some of the convuctions overturned on appeal).
For example, in the case of a homicide, you often see the defendent charged with both murder and manslaughter for the same act. In such a case the defendent would likely get a concurrent sentence because they were only convicted of a single act.
In many cases, the line between multiple convictions being a single "act" is blurry, the judge can exersise discretion.
I wish the headline on these stories was "Victim of hate crime calls for forgiveness," but that wouldn't drive rage clicks I guess. The headlines on this story all over media are driving a narrative that the perpetrator was let off easy, implying there was some systemic issues that let him get away with it rather than a concerted effort by the victims
The fact that his victims were better people than he is shouldn't impact sentencing. We already knew that before he got to trial.
“I know how valuable those grandpa years are,” Dunn said after reading his letter to the judge. “I assure the court we can live in peace as neighbors. Someone must take the first step toward peace.”
That's truly heartwarming. Until you realize he's just ensured Emanuel can just get a few more years of reinforcing for his grandkids how worthless those n***rs are, really cementing the next generation of racist bigots.
Prior to the attack in September 2022, Emanuel shouted racial slurs at the group from his white Ford F-250, and demanded that the men leave the area, court records show.
After Dunn responded they were parked on a public road, Emanuel sped off only to return minutes later — his truck charging toward the group. Dunn’s son, Frederick Douglas Dunn, leaped into the grass, saving himself by mere inches.
How wonderful that we're respecting the need for this racist, murderous, bigot's family to continue receiving his influence for as long as possible.
A big part of the prison system is to remove threats from society. It's fantastic that this guy's victims survived and it's also really good and healthy for them to ask for mercy as it means they likely aren't holding the negative feelings that will continue to hurt them in the long term. But the legal system should go above and beyond the victim's desires to protect the rest of society because this guy's next victims might not be so lucky.
I agree that forgiveness is the more compelling aspect of the story. Obviously, the very lenient sentence jumps out and it doesn't seem like appropriate punishment. On the other hand, this guy has a year to sit in prison and think about why the victims chose to forgive him. It's possible that's more likely to change him than being locked up for 5 or 6 years. If you want some old, racist loser to die a racist loser then you lock him up for a long time. Instead, he's getting an opportunity at redemption that could possibly have a greater effect than just locking up some old bastard until he dies. I mean, we eventually have to change these people. This could be a much more interesting story than rage bait.
A year long stint in a place that’s segregated by racist gangs where he gets to be a protected hero is not going to reform him, unfortunately. He should have received a sentence commensurate with his danger to the public, given his capacity to randomly decide to run people over with his truck.
While I like the sound of your redemption arc, and agree that it would be the ideal outcome, he drove to his court date flying the confederate flag, I don't think he's about to be reformed.