:dateline:The Department of Justice today announced that a federal grand jury sitting in Seattle has indicted Jamie Larson, 49, on a federal hate crime charge relating to a racially-motivated assault of a 50-year-old Sikh man.
�Attacks such as this one, based on prejudice and racial hate, are contrary to who we are and violate the law,� said U.S. Attorney Jenny A. Durkan.� �Protecting the civil rights of all the members of our community is a top priority for our office.�
Jamie Larson has been charged with one count of violating the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act that was enacted in October 2009.� The indictment alleges that on Oct. 17, 2012, the subject assaulted the victim, based upon the victim�s actual and perceived race, color and national origin, which included Middle Eastern and Arab descent.� The defendant was arrested at the scene of the attack after a witness called 911.
Larson will appear in U.S. District Court in Seattle at 1:30 today.
The charge carries a statutory maximum of 10 years in prison.
The Shepard-Byrd law criminalizes acts of physical violence causing bodily injury motivated by any person�s actual or perceived race, color, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or disability.
The matter is being investigated by the Seattle Division of the FBI.� The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Bruce F. Miyake of the U.S. Attorney�s Office for the Western District of Washington and Trial Attorney Nicholas Durham of the U.S. Department of Justice�s Civil Rights Division.
An indictment is merely an accusation, and the subject is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
