[VaSteve]

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

I view that as no more than vandalism. I don't care what the reason is. Same as flag burning. You can't just go around starting fires in public or on someone's front lawn. Reason doesn't matter. Fires are bad. Vandalism is bad. It's arson and probably reckless endangerment. Lock em up for as long as that will allow. Hate should have nothing to do with the sentence.

I think the intent is that you're intimidating the person. There's a big difference if someone paints a happy face on a black guy's garage and paints "go back to africa, ******". It's personal. Then again if the guy's name was Bob and they painted "go back to africa, Bob" would that count as a hate crime?