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Posted: April 15, 2003
On April 17, 2003, a judge in Clark County, Washington, sentenced neo-Nazis Carl D. Wolff and Brandon B. Webb under a state hate crime law after a jury convicted the two of malicious harassment for their role in the racially charged beating of a teen-ager.
Webb and Wolff, both of Idaho, were charged in the beating of 16-year-old Jesse Goodmonson at his apartment complex in Vancouver, Washington on January 25. Wolff, Webb, and about 10 other people were at a nearby apartment rented by Matthew Schmoyer when one of the men yelled a racial slur at Goodmonson, who claims to have white, Black and Hispanic lineage.
After a shouting match erupted between the parties, Goodmonson was repeatedly kicked and punched. Five people were arrested in connection with the assault.
The racial epithets shouted during the attack supported malicious harassment charges under Washington's hate crimes statute, according to police. Prosecutors said that Webb and Wolff are associated with the Hammerskin Nation, a violent neo-Nazi skinhead group.
During the trial, Deputy Prosecutor Alan Harvey showed the jury slides of the defendants' tattoos, including a symbol of two crossed-hammers signifying the Hammerskin Nation. The defendants also wore jackets with crossed-hammers patches.
Law enforcement officers who searched Schmoyer's apartment found a computer with a "White Pride, World Wide" screen saver, a white power music compact disc, and a black shirt with Nazi SS insignias.
After attacking Goodmonson, the group attended a "Rock Against Communism" concert near Hillsboro, Oregon, organized by the white supremacist group Volksfront. "Rock Against Communism," often known by the acronym RAC, is a phrase used by many white supremacists to refer to white power music because it is less explicit.
Schmoyer, 32, pleaded guilty to charges of malicious harassment in March. Another defendant in the case, Joseph C. Clark, 31, was acquitted. A fifth person charged in the attack, Jeremy R. Whitten, also from Idaho, testified in the trial against Wolff, Webb and Clark, and will face trial on similar charges in June.
Webb was sentenced to one year and a day in prison, while Wolff got 180 days.
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