May 4, 2016

The case of the UW student arrested for "White supremacy iz a disease" and other graffiti is diverted to Community Restorative Court.

"Many times, diversion is more onerous than paying a ticket. The majority of people want us to hold people accountable, they would like people to repair the harm and they would like some assurance … that we are working to ensure this doesn’t happen again."

Said Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne about the case of UW student Denzel McDonald (previously discussed here, after the UW police apologized for going into a classroom to confront him).



Meanwhile, there's another Madison graffiti case in the news:
Timothy A. Arnold, 21, was charged with four counts of misdemeanor graffiti after a criminal complaint said he used green paint to draw Swastika-like symbols on the Jewish Experience of Madison and the Kappa Alpha Theta Sorority, both located on Langdon Street, and the Samba Brazilian Grill on Gilman Street.... According to a criminal complaint, Arnold told a Madison police detective that he found some green spray paint and used it to draw “old runic” symbols on places in the Langdon Street area. He also admitted to painting the symbol on the building where the Samba Brazilian Grill is located. He said when he paints the symbol, “he is trying to express pride,” the complaint said.

37 comments:

damikesc said...

So, the streak of zero black men being charged of committing hate crimes continues unabated?

Nothing says "really serious law" like laws that impact only one group while other groups can do identical acts and not be charged.

Whites need to protest every single accusation of hate crimes under disparate impact.

tim in vermont said...

Either racial pride is good or its bad. That's how conservatives think, in abstractions. Liberals think in terms of "whose ox is being gored" and if it's their ox, it's one thing, the other guy's ox, it's another. Situational ethics.

tim in vermont said...

Liberals call thinking in abstractions thinking in "black and white." The problem with "black and white" thinking is that it doesn't take into account whose ox is being gored, which is of course the prime consideration.

Ann Althouse said...

"So, the streak of zero black men being charged of committing hate crimes continues unabated?"

How would you treat a person arrested for the first time for vandalism? Are you saying you'd treat those who spray-paint graffiti on public property differently depending on what the message is?

damikesc said...

How would you treat a person arrested for the first time for vandalism?

Given the DA and location, if a WHITE student painted "Black people are the devil", there'd be hate crime charges brought to appease a mob if nothing else.

Hate crime laws are unequally applied. They've always been unequally applied. They are unconstitutional on their face.

Are you saying you'd treat those who spray-paint graffiti on public property differently depending on what the message is?

I'm saying charge the black guy exactly as you would have charged the white guy. And nobody seriously thinks they'd let the white guy off with this.

As Tim said it, it's either good or bad. If you treat if differently based on who did it, then all you are generating is deep racial animosity.

Patrick Henry was right! said...

"So, the streak of zero black men being charged of committing hate crimes continues unabated?"

How would you treat a person arrested for the first time for vandalism? Are you saying you'd treat those who spray-paint graffiti on public property differently depending on what the message is?

Whatever the charge is for first offense racial hate crime.

tim in vermont said...

How would you treat a person arrested for the first time for vandalism? Are you saying you'd treat those who spray-paint graffiti on public property differently depending on what the message is?

5/4/16, 7:23 AM


As long as they are not Teutonic runes, then of course they should all be treated the same.

Mike Sylwester said...

Students and faculty also criticized UW police for interrupting a class to make contact with McDonald ...

The police officer was wearing a camera, and the video is available on the Internet. Anybody can see for himself that the class had not begun.

Nichevo said...
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Curious George said...

"“Many times, diversion is more onerous than paying a ticket,”

Ticket? There's your fucking problem. His actions seem to rise to a felony, but even the misdemeanor charge has a large fine and jail time:

"Graffiti

The legal term for graffiti/tagging vandalism is Graffiti. Graffiti is defined by Wisconsin Criminal law as intentionally writing, marking, or etching onto the property of another without their consent. In most circumstances, this offense is charged as a Class A misdemeanor and carries a potential sentence of 9 months in jail and $10,000 in fines.

If the property is a highway, state property, owned by a juror, or if the damage is valued at more than $2,500 you could face Class I felony charges. A class I felony carries a potential 3 ½ years in prison and $10,000 in fines.

Sal said...

The police officer was wearing a camera, and the video is available on the Internet. Anybody can see for himself that the class had not begun.

Expectations are so low for blacks on campus that even telling the truth is too much ask. It's almost like the University treats blacks as sub-adult, if not sub-human.

Nichevo said...
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Nichevo said...
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Nichevo said...
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damikesc said...

Expectations are so low for blacks on campus that even telling the truth is too much ask. It's almost like the University treats blacks as sub-adult, if not sub-human.

Reminds me of this story.

http://news.sky.com/story/1689384/students-charged-with-bus-race-assault-hoax

Ann Althouse said...

Don't respond to the commenters I systematically delete.

Mike Sylwester said...
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Mike Sylwester said...

... the Community Restorative Court is aimed at people between 17 and 25 who commit a first offense such as disorderly conduct, criminal damage to property or theft.

Online court records show McDonald was cited for vandalism last year, but he does not have a prior criminal record.


-----

The Wisconsin State Journal should clarify this situation for its readers.

Since Denzel McDonald was caught vandalizing last year, then why was he placed into this special program for first offenders?

Exactly what does the word cited mean in that sentence? Exactly what was done by McDonald and by the justice system?

If newspapers want to stay in business, then they should do their jobs. There's more reporting to be done about this crime.

Nichevo said...

Is "please" a word where you come from, Ann, or have you officially consigned it to the realm of "civility bullshit?" You might find it grease the wheels.

mtrobertslaw said...

How about this solution? Taking a cue from the apology of the University Police for entering a classroom before class started, Mr. McDonald should be required to apologize to all the white students at UW for his racist graffiti.

Antiantifa said...

WTF is a swastika-like symbol?! Seems cut and dried that something is either a swastika or not. I opened the link expecting a picture, but was disappointed the only story illustration is to the addled-looking artiste.

cubanbob said...

How would you treat a person arrested for the first time for vandalism? Are you saying you'd treat those who spray-paint graffiti on public property differently depending on what the message is?

5/4/16, 7:23 AM"

Expulsion from the University. Vandalism is vandalism and expulsion removes the miscreant and thereby cautions the rest yet avoids giving the miscreant a criminal record. Next.

Fernandinande said...

Chris Low said...
WTF is a swastika-like symbol?!


- It's not a swastika.
- It/they were backwards "N" with a vertical line thru the middle.

The "news" also typically didn't show Denzel McDonald's anti-white racist graffiti, which Althouse does show in this post.

Disparate treatment explained:
Notably, Ozanne is the first African American District Attorney in Wisconsin’s history.

Gusty Winds said...

Ann Althouse said..."Are you saying you'd treat those who spray-paint graffiti on public property differently depending on what the message is?"

Isn't this what Madison is currently doing? They arrested him in a classroom because he was evading arrest, correct?

Now all the hand wringing is relative to his skin color and the context of the message. Maybe Madison should just legalize graffiti in the name of free expression and see what happens over the course of a year.

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

Captain Spray Paint sounds like a loon.

Big Mike said...

Are you saying you'd treat those who spray-paint graffiti on public property differently depending on what the message is?

If you could bother to climb down out of your ivory tower once in a while, you'd find that this is precisely the case today. People are treated differently, depending on the combination of skin color and message. Social liberals like you do Blacks no favor when you hold them to lower standards than you'd hold a white person.

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

It may be time for a tax revolt if the police are enforcing laws more vigorously against whites than blacks, and if the university supports black racism while punishing whites for thought crimes.

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

We should demand the resignations of Ozanne and Blank.

California Snow said...

"Are you saying you'd treat those who spray-paint graffiti on public property differently depending on what the message is?"

Isn't that the entire purpose of hate crimes?

YoungHegelian said...

Uhhm, could someone please explain why the mugshot of Timothy Arnold (the spray painter of "runic" almost swastikas) features Mr. Arnold with a busted lip & a huge red wound/bruise on the upper side of his head?

What? Did the little twerp "resist arrest"? Did he "act up" with some black cop? Or, was he stuck in a cell with a Crip member for some "training in multiculturalism"?

I suspect we're looking at some police brutality here, 'cause this guy doesn't strike me by appearance or record as your hard-core, just out of the joint, Aryan Nation skinhead.

Nichevo said...
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ken in tx said...

There are black-owned Macdonalds franchises in Alabama that do not hire white people. I have been in two of them. The only reason they get away with this is because they are black. Black privilege.

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

The next time Denzel "God" McDonald vandalizes will also be his first offense if he doesn't get charged for this. He's a filthy black racist, just like Ozanne. Ozanne tried his best to get Officer Kenny charged with murder after he was attacked by a mixed-race teen who looked an awful lot like Ozanne. It was HILARIOUS watching the coward stammer and sweat when he publicly exonerated Kenny, as if he would have to take any heat for it.

It's ridiculous that they're charging those white men with hate crimes for graffiti that caused less damage than McDonald's and contained no explicitly racist message, unlike that done by "God".

Ozanne needs to be kicked out on his fat, racist black ass.

Gahrie said...

How would you treat a person arrested for the first time for vandalism? Are you saying you'd treat those who spray-paint graffiti on public property differently depending on what the message is?

Isn't that exactly the purpose of hate crime laws? To treat people who commit identical crimes differently based on their motives?

Jupiter said...

I would put the larger chairs over by the non-functioning life boats, so the orchestra can have a better view of the iceberg, which should be along momentarily.

Jupiter said...

If people actually felt that the legal system could no longer be trusted to ensure a minimum level of public safety and respect for persons and property, and indeed that the legal system had become irrelevant or even counter-productive, they would probably cast about for some other means of achieving those fundamental prerequisites of a functioning society.

"The FBI ran 2,145,865 checks through the National Instant Background Check System last month, according to the agency’s records. That represents more than a 400,000 increase over the previous record set in April 2014."

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

@Jupiter

I hear ya. I am locked and loaded, ready to enforce my rights against McDonald, Ozanne, or anyone else who tries to infringe.