The 22-year-old suspected shooter at a gay nightclub in Colorado Springs, Colo., who allegedly killed five and injured dozens faces five counts of murder and hate crimes charges. Hate crimes are known as “bias-­motivated” crimes in Colorado. The charges against the shooter are still preliminary, although Colorado Springs Mayor John
Bias-motivated attacks became a distinct crime in the 1980s. But police investigate only a fraction of the roughly 200,000 hate crimes reported each year – and even fewer ever make it to court.
Where a defendant has been convicted of two counts of committing a hate crime and one count of conspiring to commit a hate crime under the Shepard-Byrd Act, the convictions should be affirmed because the statute is a constitutional exercise of Congress's power under the 13th Amendment. “A jury convicted Maurice Diggins (‘Diggins’) of two