Second sentencing in Highland Park beating/hate-crime case

| Crime | Highland Park | West Seattle news

We’re at the King County Courthouse, where Superior Court Judge Carol Schapira has just sentenced the second defendant in the Highland Park beating/hate-crime case from last May. His sentence is 72 months total – 48 months for the robbery (which includes the beating), 24 months after that for the weapons enhancement), and a concurrent 12 months for the malicious-harassment charge. That’s three months longer than the sentence the same judge gave the first defendant, 23-year-old Ahmed Mohamed, last month.

Pleading guilty to robbery (with a weapons enhancement) and malicious harassment (hate crime) in January (WSB coverage here), Jonathan Baquiring, like his co-defendant, had acknowledged a racist motive in attacking now-17-year-old Shane McClellan in Highland Park and beating/torturing him for hours. Charges weren’t filed till four months later; Baquiring was the first suspect arrested, and has been in jail since then, almost six months.

Before the judge’s decision, prosecutors asked for the same 72-month sentence they had requested for the first defendant, on the most serious charge. Shane McClellan’s father Tim addressed the judge, as he had at the first sentencing. “The continuing impact… this has had on our family … on my son,” he began, his voice breaking. Judge Schapira notes she remembered that the previous sentencing, at which she also presided, was on Shane’s 17th birthday. “I hope there is some sense of satisfaction, now that Mr. Baquiring made a decision to plead guilty, that this matter will not have .. any more uncertainties,” so that Shane “can move on,” the judge told the victim’s father. “It’s like the final chapter, we want to put it to rest,” McClellan replied. When the judge offered Baquiring the chance “to say something,” he asked for forgiveness, “for everything we have done.”

Baquiring’s lawyer called him “unschooled in the legal system and in the realities of alcohol consumption,” saying he had “consumed at least four 4 Lokos” (that came up in the first sentencing too). “This is not anything that was planned or decided on in advance … I think Mr. McClellan was truly a random victim – that doesn’t make his victimization any less real …” the lawyer said. Unlike the first defendant, he had no family or friends speaking on his behalf, so after he spoke, Judge Schapira pronounced her sentence, noting that he had no criminal history before this and saying she hopes he will have nothing after he serves the sentence. (We have her remarks on video, and will add them here when we are back at HQ, as well as ~~video~~ a photo of Baquiring in the courtroom – you’ll notice her speaking especially slowly; Baquiring spoke and listened through a translator.) ADDED: Here are the judge’s remarks:

kg March 4, 2011 (3:28 pm)

The old Four Loko excuse eh?

csw March 4, 2011 (4:00 pm)

The criminal didn’t speak English? Deportation?

TimT March 4, 2011 (11:24 pm)

I don’t know many Filipinos in the U.S. [much less in the Philippines] that don’t speak English. Because there are three main languages in the Philippines and several others with smaller groups of users English is the universal tongue; taught in schools at a young age, spoken on the streets, even the TV news is in English. Japanese and Koreans send thousands of students to the Philippines to learn English. Sounds more like the defense lawyer’s idea–not knocking the attorney, he’s got a job to do defending his client. Probably worked to some degree.

Gary March 5, 2011 (12:44 am)

Not much opportunity for him here in America if he don’t know English.

cj March 5, 2011 (5:30 am)

I hope the victim can find it with in him self to not feel fear or loathing of other cultures and heal from this. It is individuals not these whole cultures that commit these acts.

Rm March 5, 2011 (10:31 am)

“Not much opportunity for him here in America if he don’t know English.”

Ironic- I hope this is comment is meant as sarcasm. I am sure you mean well however I cannot resist pointing out these observations. My South American friends would quickly point out that you should have referred to the US or North America. Opportunities are greater in “America” if you speak Spanish. I believe that is the language in the majority of “America” They would also know the proper grammar would be
“does not know English” or “doesn’t know English.”

WSB March 5, 2011 (10:48 am)

I also need to point out to those who seem to be assuming that the defendant is not a US citizen simply because he had a translator – he may well be a US citizen – it was not mentioned in the court hearing and I don’t have time to go back through the sheaf of court documents at the moment, assuming it was even mentioned there. If citizenship were relevant to the proceedings – for fear of fleeing, for possible deportation, whatever – I am fairly certain it would have been brought up. Meantime, there are many US citizens whose primary language is something other than English. And even if, as someone else notes, a defendant speaks English too, if it’s not their primary language, it would seem unwise not to ask for translation assistance at what might be one of the most important proceedings of their life, determining what happens next in the justice system.
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(added – Waterworld’s comment came in while I was writing this one – saying pretty much the same thing)
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Also, on a separate commenting issue – comments advocating violence against suspects/defendants – or anyone else – will not be tolerated, just as the violence against victims should not be tolerated. Aside from the death penalty (certainly not an issue in this case), physical violence is not among the punishment options in our system. If you think it should be, you will want to contact your state legislators, as the sentencing ranges/options are determined by state law. Thanks – TR

waterworld March 5, 2011 (10:45 am)

It’s one thing to speak enough English to get by in the world, but quite another to speak and understand it well enough to follow what is going on in a legal proceeding. Because of that, defense lawyers and judges often bring in an interpreter to assist during the court proceedings. It’s the only way to be confident that a person who is not fluent in English will really understand everything that’s being said.

Rm March 5, 2011 (11:09 am)

Many years ago I was living in Australia. One day a guy, who had one too many went into a tirad. He said “you Americans are so nationalistic, you only know about your own country and nothing else.” I calmy replied “that is not true, we know nothing about our own country either!” we are now friends and I look for every opportunity to learn of other cultures and to travel. We need knowledge which builds tolerance.

TimT March 5, 2011 (1:50 pm)

TO Rm:

After several years living & working in Europe, Asia and the Middle East I stopped buying into that “Americans know nothing about the world…” chant. If you polled people at a South Sydney Rabbitohs game, on the streets of Norfolk, UK or Volograd Russia you’ll find similar levels of ignorance.

Some posters may have a point that an English as a second language speaker would need a translator but that doesn’t mean it also isn’t a tactic by the defense counsel.

Live Here; Learn Here March 5, 2011 (2:11 pm)

TimT; good call. Don’t know about you, I’m tired of that “excuse”

D. Wulkan March 7, 2011 (4:17 pm)

Some of us remember the days when a fairly rigorous civics/history test in English was a requirement for US citizenship. When my folks came to this country after WW2, a relative– a US citizen in good standing was required to post a $5000 bond to ensure that my parents would not become a (welfare) burden to the United States. Needless to say, they soon spoke and read better English than most US born Americans. That said, while I especially appreciate the editor’s comments regarding civil discourse and no threatening comments in this blog–long overdue in my opinion– and while the editor is always free to post his/her opinions, perhaps journalism would be better served if someone can find out how long the criminal in this case has been in the country. I’m sure that information is publicly available and/or could be obtained by the press. It also might add to the excellent objective coverage of this story and help to clear up some of the speculation regarding citizenship/language issues. That said, this type of hate crime is despicable, and I’m glad our justice system prevailed.

WSB March 7, 2011 (5:48 pm)

Immigration/citizenship status is not public record for me or any other journalist to look up. I have just spent an hour verifying that to be the case. There are occasionally criminal cases where the documents have prosecutors suspecting someone to be a flight risk because they just came here from Country X or something like that – no such notations in any of the documentation here (I just paid again to re-download and re-read it). About the most I can tell you is that two people with his surname, at what was listed as his address on the police report, are registered voters. The birthdates suggest they could be his grandfather and father (or not), but the voter registration (which is a public, easily accessible database) means they’re citizens. For whatever that’s worth … TR

Sorry, comment time is over.