The Anti-Defamation League today (ADL) praised the Boulder County District Attorney’s Office and the Boulder Police Department following the sentencing of a Keystone man, Zachrey Harris, for harassment, insults, taunts and ethnic intimidation of a Nigerian man during a brutal physical assault last fall. Harris was sentenced to 20 days in jail and two years on probation in Colorado’s first non-violent misdemeanor hate crimes conviction.  Boulder ADL Office Community Director Amy M. Stein issued the following statement:

“We commend the Boulder County District Attorney’s Office, as well as the Boulder Police Department, for their commitment to securing justice for the victim and for making it clear that criminal harassment motivated by bigotry and hatred will not go unanswered in Boulder.

Perpetrators of hate crimes send a message to their victims – and everyone else who shares the victim’s characteristics – that they are not welcome or safe. Every time the perpetrator of a hate crime is brought to justice, the opposite message is sent loudly and clearly: that all people, of any nationality, race, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religion, or ethnicity, are welcome, safe, protected and included in Boulder.”

Hate crime statutes have been adopted by 45 states. Many of those laws are based on a model statute crafted by ADL, which has long been in the forefront of national and state efforts to deter and counteract hate-motivated criminal activity.

In September 2010, ADL condemned the racially-motivated violence in this case and urged law enforcement to prosecute the crime to the full extent permitted under Colorado’s hate crimes law and the City of Boulder’s Bias-Motivated Crimes Ordinance.