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Justin Cole Whittington, 25, Sentenced to 15 Years for Hate Crime
A Bakersfield man was sentenced to 15 years in prison for firing a shotgun at a Latino man while yelling racist slurs, according to the U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert.
Justin Cole Whittington, 25, was convicted in Dec. 2016 of interfering with a person’s housing rights because of his race, color, or national origin by use of force or threat of force; use of a firearm during a crime of violence; and making a false statement to a special agent of the FBI.
On Dec. 19, 2012, the victim, a Latino man, was standing in his front yard with his wife and son when a car drove past slowly and came to a stop in front of his neighbor’s house. Whittington, whom the victim had never seen before, got out of the front passenger seat of the car holding a sawed-off shotgun.
Whittington used profanity and shouted a racial epithet as he fired one round toward the victim from about 15 yards away, and yelled that the victim should move out of Oildale. Whittington got back into the car and it drove away. Shortly thereafter, the shotgun was fired from the car at a nearby convenience store owned by a man of Middle Eastern descent.
According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, the victim and his family no longer felt safe in their home, and as soon as they had the financial means to do so, they moved from the neighborhood.
U.S. District Judge Dale A. Drozd called Whittington’s actions “reprehensible conduct that’s had a significant impact on [the victim’s family] — outrageous, repugnant criminal conduct.”
Whittington was also found guilty of making false statements to an FBI agent when he falsely claimed that on the evening of the incident, he had been paid by someone to keep the sawed-off shotgun in the trunk of his car.
Key Facts
- State: California
- Category: Violent Crime
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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