Governor Signs Hate Crimes Bill Into Law
Apr 2, 2019, 6:34 PM | Updated: 9:55 pm
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – Good music has a way of making almost anyone feel better.
However, he and his family were already about as happy as you can get.
“I’m pretty excited for this,” said Lopez. “Utah is finally going to put something in that will serve some justice.”
He’s talking about Utah’s new hate crime law.
The ceremony at the Capitol was to celebrate its passage and signing.
Lopez and his family were there because of what happened to him this past December.
“I’m not saying my case in general helped push this even further, but my case kind of got this more aware about it,” said Lopez.
Lopez was knocked unconscious by a man who walked into Lopez Tire in Salt Lake City yelling he wanted to kill Mexicans.
That man hit Lopez several times with a metal pole shattering his cheekbone and eye socket.
The man then attacked Lopez’s father, who was also working at the shop, and ran to help his son.
The father was also hit by the man, who then took off.
He was later caught.
“When I heard about what happened there, that bothered me,” said Utah Representative Lee Perry, who represents Utah’s 29th District.
Perry was bothered because that man couldn’t be charged with a hate crime under Utah’s old law, even though Perry says it appears the men were attacked specifically because of their Hispanic background.
“I started seeing that our law doesn’t work,” said Perry.
So, along with State Senator Daniel Thatcher, who came up with the bill in Utah’s State Senate, sponsored a new hate crime bill in Utah where penalties will be enhanced if it can be proven someone attacked someone else because of attributes like race, religion, sexual orientation.
The bill says a hate crime raises a conviction one level.
So, if you’re charged with a 2nd degree felony, if it’s a hate crime, now it becomes a 1st degree felony.
A 3rd degree misdemeanor now becomes a 2nd degree misdemeanor if it’s a hate crime, and so on.
Similar bills have failed in the past few years during the legislature.
“It doesn’t matter where you start, it matters where you finish,” said Senator Thatcher, who represents Utah’s 12th District.
Utah governor Gary Herbert signed that bill into law during the ceremony Tuesday afternoon.
“I guess if I had my wish of heart, I wish we didn’t have to talk about hate crimes,” said Governor Herbert. “I know all of us, I think, wish there were not hate in the world, that there’s not crime activity, that we in fact love one another as the bible teaches us.”
Lopez says he feels that love.
It was only three months ago he wasn’t sure he’d ever be able to smile so big again.
“Obviously, it’s something really good because it’s so hard to wrap around from what’s happened to me,” said Lopez.
