Iowa man sentenced to 16 years for setting LGBTQ flag on fire

Hate crime: Iowa man sentenced to prison for burning LGBTQ flag

Just my opinion, the sentence of 16 years seems excessive to me when people get less for murder. He is racist, and he is also Latino. He will be in prison with rapists, murderers, pedophiles.

This guy is the first one to be sentenced under new hate crime laws.

Now another thing is, that if you desecrate the American flag, there is a fine of 1000 dollars and up to one year in jail. A flag that is suppose to represent freedom, equality, unity, the pursuit of happiness, calories, innocents, purity, and all that.

This too is a hate crime then?

Playing devils advocate here.

What could be the sentence in a court for a person who steals a confederate flag and burns it.

Does this case set a president?

I don’t know what is right here, but if this kind of sentence is laid down over a flag that represents a community, what will be the sentence for a flag that is burned that represents an entire country? I know what this guy did was wrong and his reasons were racist.

Not looking to argue, just wondering what others think.

 

damn the two minute edit rule, the word calories should be, I don’t know what. Lol. Spell correct did a very bad correction. Lol

 

Nobody should be put in a cage for non-violent acts, in my opinion.

Some sort of intervention is probably called for here, because the goal of this is to make people feel unsafe, whereas burning the flag of your country is more of a protest, but prison seems absurd.

 

These hate crime laws need to be rewritten. It's just wrong for someone to be put away for sixteen years for this.

 

You're only saying that because you are in fact Iowa man, aren't you? :-D

 

I dont think hate crimes should apply to nonviolent crimes, or if they do the punishment should fit the crime. Community service would be more fitting to this crime.
And I do think this sets a dangerous precedent for free speech laws surrounding the right to burn a flag.
A year in prison for burning a stolen flag might be reasonable

 

I posted about this! I don't remember where...

I do think there should be a punishment, but I'm thinking less of one than that. But what do I know... Lemme see if I can figure out where I put that. Oh yeah! Whats your position on flag burning?

 

"In Iowa, a Class D felony is typically subject to a maximum prison sentence of five years. However, Martinez had two previous felonies, details of which were not immediately available. Iowa law designates as an “habitual offender” anyone “convicted of a class ‘C’ or a class ‘D’ felony, who has twice before been convicted of any felony in a court of this or any other state, or of the United States.” Therefore, Martinez was sentenced as an habitual offender."

Did an Iowa Man Get 16 Years in Prison for Burning an LGBT Rainbow Flag?

 

The flag was not his to burn. He took it from another party and vandalized it. Regardless what the flag represented, he deserved to be charged with something. Sixteen years is way too extreme for this, but this charge is a result of him being a repeat offender and his criminal lifestyle just kept adding up.

The ironic thing about flag burning, at least with the American flag, when it gets worn and tattered, it is customary to burn it in a ceremony. That’s what we did when I was in boy scouts (many years before they became the soy scouts), and we would have flag burning ceremonies at camp.