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Alleged hate crime occurs in Ogg
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Also by Megan Costello and Mike Gendall:
- Alleged hate crime occurs in Ogg (January 19, 2006)
- Appeal could clear name for Barrows (April 11, 2006)
Related Stories:
- D.A. drops felony charge against UW student (April 5, 2006)
- Court reschedules conferences for alleged hate-crime (February 14, 2006)
- Freshman appear for hate crime charges (March 20, 2006)
- Alleged hate crime not surprising to UW (January 20, 2006)
- UW responds to hate crime (January 23, 2006)
by Megan Costello and Mike Gendall
Thursday, January 19, 2006
Two University of Wisconsin freshmen appeared in court Jan. 17 facing felony charges of disorderly conduct and criminal damage to property as hate crimes.
The students, Benjamin Chamberlain and Michael Riha, allegedly vandalized the dorm room door of a UW student and LGBT liaison in Ogg Hall Dec. 21, according to court documents.
Also charged and due to appear in Dane County Court Feb. 13 are Purdue University freshman Kevin Cochacki and Auburn University freshman Caleb Moore, both of whom were visiting Riha, their Naperville, Ill., high school friend.
According to court documents, Chamberlain is a U.S. Marine ROTC student, and Riha, Cochacki, and Moore are all members of Sigma Chi fraternity at their respective universities.
If convicted, Chamberlain, Cochacki and Moore could each face up to three years in prison and $20,000 in fines. Riha faces an additional charge of obstructing an officer. This charge came from repeated changes to his story to UWPD Detective Carol Ann Glassmaker, the criminal complaint states.
Riha could receive an additional $10,000 fine or nine months in jail.
When contacted late Wednesday night, the alleged victim declined comment on the December incident, and asked The Badger Herald to protect his anonymity.
According to the criminal complaint, the alleged victim said he was sleeping in his dorm room at around 2:30 a.m. Dec. 21 when he was awoken by male voices yelling, "All fggots should die! I hate fcking f*ggots!"
The alleged victim then reportedly heard a male voice say "Oh, who wrote that?" followed by another voice saying "I wrote that."
The complaint then states the alleged victim said he opened the door to find saliva dripping down his door. His bulletin board, which LGBT posters had been ripped off of, now reportedly read, "I hate fcking fggots! Die."
Chamberlain, from Crystal Lake, Ill., later confessed to writing this, the complaint states.
"I tore down a picture, I was showing off and saw a picture of two guys kissing," Chamberlain was quoted in the complaint. "I am conservative and had a problem with it. Why does the photo have to be displayed in public? Keep it to yourself. I tore it down."
The complaint stated the defendants went back three times to tear other LGBT posters down, and that all four were involved with the incident.
According to the complaint, Cochacki told police he was laughing but denied spitting on the board, although he was not asked about spitting.
After the incident, Riha reportedly brought his friends to his Sigma Chi fraternity house, and along the way Chamberlain yelled, "I hate fcking fggots. I hate f*cking liberals."
Moore later told police, "[Chamberlain] was insane and he should be in jail."
The complaint states that Riha denied ripping the pictures down but subsequently confessed Dec. 22 when told there was a witness.
"I was showing them how liberal Madison was," he reportedly said.
According to the complaint, Riha apologized and pointed out the door of the alleged victim.
Although court documents indicate Riha has moved from his former residence on the second floor of Ogg West to the Sigma Chi fraternity house, UW Housing Director Paul Evans said none of the defendants have been asked to vacate their residence.
"They wouldn't be removed because they're in the student conduct process," he said.
Evans said the Dec. 21 incident is not unprecedented in university housing, but could not recall the outcomes of past cases.
"It's not like this is the first time something of its kind [has] happened," Evans said. "We obviously hope that it doesn't and it's fortunate that it doesn't happen very often."
Were it not for the hate crime enhancers added, the disorderly conduct offenses would not be felonies.
According to Wisconsin law, a case can be tried as a hate crime if the defendants intentionally selected the person with whom the crime was committed because of belief about sexual orientation, whether or not the perception was correct.
As of press time, phone calls to Chamberlain, Riha, Cochacki and Moore went unanswered, as did phone calls to UW LGBT officials.
Anonymous (January 19, 2006 @ 8:19am):
This is completely frightening. I know conservatives are going to jump up and scream "thought crime", but do you really want this guy on the streets? "All faggots should die"? This guy was another beer away from turning Madison into Laramie.
From my point of view, hate crime enhancers are good public policy (just like second offense enhancers) because they speak to the likelihood of recidivism. There's no question a man with this much hate is predisposed to commit other crimes (just as someone who has committed multiple crimes is predisposed to repeat), and therefore society has a solid purpose in putting him behind bars for longer.
Anonymous (January 19, 2006 @ 11:39am):
this is why there are people working teach students about acceptence and respect; regardless of race, sex, gender, sexuality, ability, income, religion, or whatever other defining factor.
Anonymous (January 19, 2006 @ 11:41am):
C'mon, these guys are just a bunch of stupid freshmen! Um, no offense to any other freshmen out there, OK?
Charge 'em with misdemeanors, expel them and that'll be the end of it. Two of these bozos aren't even Wisconsin residents, let alone UW students. That's a total of four more inmates in an already-crowded state prison population. No one got beaten up or anything, but I would certainly like to see them expelled. Get too harsh on 'em and we may be in for some serious backlash, folks!
Anonymous (January 19, 2006 @ 11:56am):
Maybe they can get the Mendota Beacon to write an article in their favor
Anonymous (January 19, 2006 @ 3:18pm):
I think Sigma Chi fraternity should take action against this member of their house. They are basically saying what it's member did is fine by allowing him to come live at their house after what he's done. If I was Greek right now, I would see this as another reason for people to assume that Greeks are bigots. The Greek community needs to stand up against this particualr action and against this attitude in their community.
Anonymous (January 19, 2006 @ 5:03pm):
"Charge 'em with misdemeanors, expel them and that'll be the end of it."
I agree. No one got hurt, so just get them the hell outta here and consider it done. I also agree that Sigma Chi should expel them all as well. All that plus the fines would be enough, but let's not take it as far as jail time. Obviously, these four little morons aren't mature enough for college yet.
UW-Madison is clearly not the place for them, but don't turn into a bunch of extremists over it. God knows the nineties are over and no one wants to go through that I'm-okay-and-you're-a-bigot crap all over again!
Anonymous (January 19, 2006 @ 5:19pm):
"Maybe they can get the Mendota Beacon to write an article in their favor"
No, I don't think the folks at the Beacon would actually condone what happened. Lay off!
Anonymous (January 19, 2006 @ 7:20pm):
Yes these deep-seeded beliefs undermine our society and are repulsive and disgusting. Yes these conservative rednecks were totally lit off cheap domestic light beer with bloodshot eyes bulging and blood-dripping fangs coming out of their mouths. But multiple felonies for spitting on someone's door and ripping down posters? That is blatant disregard for our civil liberties. Let's punish them for their actions, and let their beliefs go. That's as dangerous as a government persecuting based on religious beliefs or skin color. We can argue about the "thought crime" thing for the next ten years and we probably won't get anywhere. Maybe one of those bastards would have gone nuts and started shooting up gay people all over campus, but my thought is he's some schmuck with big muscles who hasn't gotten laid in 6 months and his gay-directed insults were the equivalent of the "hey baby, wanna go home with me?" he slurred to some girl at a bar two hours earlier.
Anonymous (January 19, 2006 @ 9:44pm):
How much do you want to bet the Beacon writes some apologetic piece about these jokers?
Michael Malcolm (January 19, 2006 @ 10:31pm):
To the penultimate poster - One of the criteria in assessing penalties is the impact on the victim(s). This is why, for example, rape carries a larger penalty than simple assault.
Because hate crimes visit injury on a whole community, and some personal vendetta does not, it's perfectly fair to impose a more serious punishment.
Anonymous (January 20, 2006 @ 1:26am):
"Maybe one of those bastards would have gone nuts and started shooting up gay people all over campus..."
Hey, the LGBT community did its share of hatemongering back in the nineties, and they're at it again by accusing all the straight men in the world of being homophobic if they refuse to go see Brokeback Mountain. Come on people let's get real! What goes around comes around. You are not just all sweet innocent little piggies who honestly didn't do anything to piss off the big bad wolves out there. You do things to get a rise out of straights too every once in awhile. Gays and lesbians harrass straights too. That's a well known fact. But we've never seen any of you hauled in for it. So this is what you get in return. Maybe the gay guy who was threatened didn't do anythin to piss off the straight that threatened him but the LGBT community as a whole is decidedly guilty denying that they do the same BS he's being accused of doing.
As for the Mendota Beacon, I would say just wait until they speak up before passing judgement on them. Give them a chance to respond before you level accusations against them. Don't assume that they approve of what these four assholes did just because they are conservative.
Anonymous (January 22, 2006 @ 11:00am):
I want to pick up where the last comment left off. It's not "conservative" to hate people. What the religious right has done to conservatives is among the most sustained and lasting hate crimes of our time. Chamberlain shouldn't be able to hide his bigotry behide the label of "conservative."
Hatred is not a political value; in this case, it's a felony. There is no respected judge or justice or legal scholar in this country who would say what these four students did is covered by the breadth of the first amendment. They should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Jail time might broaden their sexual horizons.
Anonymous (January 23, 2006 @ 12:02pm):
The defendants are being prosecuted under a Wisconsin law: the state legislature enacted the law with the support of Wisconsin residents. In other words, this is not specifically a UW-Madison issue.
If you think this is an "extreme" case, you're wrong, because it is precisely the situation that Wisconsin legislators hoped to address. For those who want to cut them a break, is there any reason to do so except for the fact that they're white and privileged?
Anonymous (January 23, 2006 @ 10:18pm):
I went to high school with Chamberlain, and additionally had classes with him. He was an excellent student and a nice guy, so I was shocked to have read this. I also think that the students should just be charged with misdemeanors and get expelled, and get kicked out of the fraternity, as well as fines or something along those lines. As pointed out before they are just freshman, and I wouldn't doubt if there was alcohol involved, not that its an excuse, but it certainly impairs people's judgement. They need to have enough against them to "learn their lesson" but at the same time, should their futures be completely shattered? I know that what they did was wrong, but they have potential to fix their mistakes and have a decent future.
Anonymous (February 3, 2006 @ 10:24am):
I may be a late-comer to this article, as I am not a local like my friends, but, "Gays and lesbians harrass straights too. That's a well known fact." isn't a well known fact to me. Could you point me to some incidents? I have no recollection of gay people going around vandalizing straight people's things or telling them to die for being straight. If you compare such things to, for example, kissing in public, then you need to take a reality check. And if you're talking about hitting on other people, I for one would not like to be inappropriately hit on by a person of either gender.
I think that hate crimes should apply to anyone who chooses to commit a crime based on the victim belonging to a particular group that they did not choose to belong to. Whether that group is a minority or a majority. If the slur that was in that remark was replaced with straights or crackers, or whatever, it should still be prosecuted.
When the word "die" gets involved, it becomes more than vandalism. And these kids should get more than a slap on the wrist. Should they get the maximum penalty? Probably not. But they need to understand that being drunk doesn't mean that they don't have to be accountable for their actions, and that threatening people is not acceptable behavior.
Anonymous (February 14, 2006 @ 6:06pm):
I think they should just let them go. These gays are ridiculous. We should get the gays out and keep these two normal kids
Anonymous (February 28, 2006 @ 9:08am):
Just from the little I have read about this matter, these boys shouldn't be tormenting or terrorizing anyone...period. But I do think gays absolutely do need to get a grip. (bigger period!) If a person doesn't want to be tormented...his community just needs to act in a way that others...even those who have differences...admire and respect. (not accusing victim here of anything). Otherwise, ignore this, and expect far, far worse incidents in the future. Personally, this "conservative" (still back Bush 98% of the time) thinks an appropriate response to the defendants would be to force them to listen to someone like myself...gay and conservative. Throwing them in jail is just spite. Those kind gay hearts who think this have more issues than they are aware of. We catch more flies with honey than vinegar.
Anonymous (March 2, 2006 @ 11:09am):
I a in a sorority, I hate sigma chi! I have met so many sexual assault victims that were rapd by is members or at their house. they have had partis shut down by police over too many date rape drug complaints. They are disgustin people. If someon did that in my house she would be in deep shit with nationals. when you accept someone in spite of horible personality traits like that, you are condonin such beliefs and behavior. Sima Chi should be ashamed. I hope their advisor and Nationals are ashamed. These guys are constantl in trouble with IFC and Panhel, and most orority and fraternity members dislke Sigma Chi. They really need to fix their problems.
Anonymous (March 2, 2006 @ 11:17am):
So some people met manson before knowing he was a murderer and hougt he seemed nice. Sean Pen though Saddam Hussein seemed nice. In fact, people said ted Bundy seemed so charming, kind, and charismaic. Come on people, anyone can sem nice and excelling in school has crap todo with character. I know a coke dealer who had a 3.9, goes to law school, and is friendly to people. Seriously, these are no nice people, they went out of their way to terrorize a person for bing OK with homosexuality! they are not good people! At least not anymore or when they feel comfortable enough to be themselves!
