A former Draper resident was found guilty of a federal hate crime after using a stun device during a racially-motivated assault of his neighbor at an apartment complex in Draper, Utah.
Mark Porter, 59, was convicted late Wednesday afternoon of committing a federal hate crime when he used a stun device during the assault of a neighbor at his apartment complex in Draper, Utah. The jury further found that Porter used a dangerous weapon – a stun cane.
The evidence presented at trial showed that Porter shouted a racial slur at the victim’s 7-year-old son as the boy rode on a scooter in a common area at the apartment complex. After Porter told the child to “get out of here,” he used the stun cane to injure the victim, knocking the victim to the ground.
Porter then used a racial slur to refer to the victim and his son and told them both to “get out of here.” The evidence also established that, prior to the incident, Porter had told an employee and maintenance staff at the apartment complex that he did not want to live near any African-Americans. Immediately prior to the incident with the boy and his father, Porter told another neighbor that he thought that African-Americans needed to be “exterminated.”
The jury in this case spoke on behalf of Utah communities and definitively stated that this criminal conduct will not be tolerated. Porter now faces a maximum sentence of 10 years and a fine of $250,000.
Porter is set to be sentenced on May 30 before U.S. District Judge Dee Benson.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney J. Drew Yeates of the Utah U.S. Attorney’s Office and Trial Attorney Rose E. Gibson of the Civil Rights Division’s Criminal Section.
The evidence presented in the case was collected by special agents of the FBI.
Key Facts
- State: Utah
- Category: Violent Crime
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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