Samuel Whitt, Hate Crime, Ohio 2017

A federal grand jury returned an indictment in May 2017, alleging Samuel Whitt, 42, of Cincinnati, destroyed a rental home owned by an inter-racial couple in Price Hill in November 2016.

According to the indictment, Whitt broke into the rental home and spray-painted the walls with messages including 'die n****r' and 'white power,' as well as images of swastikas. Whitt also allegedly poured quick-drying concrete into the bathroom drains and toilet; stabbed a knife into the floor; removed plumbing traps from the sinks and left the water running; turned on the gas stove in the upstairs kitchen, poured paint into the burners, and attempted to remove the smoke detector above the stove.

The U.S. District Court had previously ruled to exclude evidence of Whitt's prior misdemeanor crimes that involved the spray-painting of racial epithets on apartment buildings, cars and part of a church. However, the Court of Appeals overturned that decision, ruling that the evidence is admissible to show that Whitt acted with racial animus in committing the 2016 crime.

Benjamin C. Glassman, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, announced the opinion filed in the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.

Whitt has been charged federally with criminal interference with federal fair housing rights and attempted arson. Assistant United States Attorneys Megan Gaffney and Kyle Healey are prosecuting the criminal case.

The United States Attorney's Office is committed to prosecuting hate crimes to the fullest extent of the law, said U.S. Attorney Glassman.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdoh/pr/court-appeals-rules-defendants-prior-conviction-racially-charged-crime-admissible-hate