Three Suspects Arrested For Houston Hate Crime.
Three white men have been convicted of an attack on a black man at a Houston bus stop last summer in the first Texas case to fall under a relatively new federal hate crime law.
FBI spokeswoman Shauna Dunlap said 26-year-old Charles Cannon, 40-year-old Michael McLaughlin and 32-year-old Brian Kerstetter were found guilty by a jury Monday after a two-day trial. She said charges were dismissed against 49-year-old Joseph Staggs, who testified against the others. Investigators say the victim was punched and kicked while waiting for a bus, and at least one of the men used a racial slur. Three suspects had white supremacist tattoos.
All three men face up to 10 years in prison under the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, passed in 2009.
