Update: On November 16, 2006, a district court in Houston, Texas, sentenced an 18-year-old white supremacist to life in prison for the aggravated sexual assault in this case.  More

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Houston, TX, April 27, 2006 …The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) is shocked and appalled by the beating and sodomizing of a 16-year-old Spring boy, and while reports of the crime may not indicate it was sparked by hatred, the way it allegedly was carried out carries clear indicators that bias was involved.
 
Investigators have been quoted as saying the victim was beaten by two young white men who stomped on his head while insulting his Mexican heritage.  Allegedly one of those two men wears racist tattoos and purports to be a skinhead. 
 
"One of the first indicators of a hate crime is signs, symbols or words used by the perpetrators that indicate some sort of prejudice against the victim,"  says ADL Southwest Regional Director Martin B. Cominsky.  "In this case, the suspects allegedly insulted the young victim's heritage, and carried out the attack in ways that mimicked other hate crimes.  Whether the beating was incited by hatred or not, clearly hate was involved and contributed to the viciousness of the attack," Cominsky said.
 
"We are shocked at the brutality of this attack, but we are not surprised that hatred could lead to such unbridled violence," Cominsky added.  "Hatred may begin with words, but unchecked, it can lead to attacks like this one.  Just this week, ADL released its report "Extremists Declare 'Open Season' on Immigrants; Hispanics Target of Incitement and Violence," documenting extremists urging their constituents to lash out in hatred against Hispanics.  The report reveals that since the year 2000, more than 2500 hate crimes have been perpetrated against Hispanics.  And the number of violent attacks targeting our Hispanic community is growing," Cominsky says.

The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the world's leading organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry.