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Freshman appear for hate crime charges
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Two University of Wisconsin-Madison freshmen appeared in Dane County Court last week on hate crime charges stemming from a Dec. 21 incident in Ogg Hall.
Benjamin Chamberlain, 19, of Crystal Lake, Ill., waived his right to a preliminary hearing, while fellow UW freshman Michael Riha, 19, of Madison, Ill., is scheduled to attend a preliminary hearing April 4.
Auburn University freshman Caleb Moore and Purdue University freshman Kevin Cochacki, who both face hate crime charges as well, have yet to appear in Dane County Court but are currently scheduled for their initial appearances April 27.
According to a police report, one of the four students ripped an LGBT poster off the door of an LGBT liaison in Ogg Hall and wrote "I hate f-cking f-ggots! Die." on the liaison's white board.
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, according to the criminal complaint.
Riha could receive an additional $10,000 fine or nine months in jail.
The only physical contact referenced in the report was not part of the criminal charges and does not appear to be malicious in nature.
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How many times are articles on this overcharged, over-pressed, and completely ridiculous case going to be published? If you’re going to continue to write about this dumb case, then at least get some new information instead of retelling the story for the 8th time now!!!
If you did some real reporting, something every writer for the Badger Herald lacks, you would know that Chamberlain, Cochacki, and Moore all have settled their cases, were charged with 50 hours of community service, and the case will be dismissed when that is completed! Riha is continuing to fight the charges because they are completely absurd and solely due to a crazy, liberal, gay-loving detective on a power trip.
The courts are dismissing this dumb case, so maybe the Badger Herald should too! Take note that every other paper in Madison has only published one article on this, and this is the Herald’s 8th! A poster was torn down and a dry erase board was written on…WHO CARES?!?!?!
I also find it hard to believe that Riha is from Madison, Illinois??? (Lets try some proof-reading next time)
I disagree that the papers should drop the story. The story is that the officers and the courts are bringing such ridiculous charges in the first place. Further, the universtity has a commited obligation to investigate any disiplinary issues (it’s in the university disiplinary code) before calling a clearly overzealous and deceitful “law enforcment” agency like the Madison PD. Issues such as the university failing to abide by it’s own stated proceedures, and the clear overcharges by the Madison PD are the issues that need the papers attention and true action.