In a rare move, a 22-year-old White University of Maryland student was indicted on a hate crime charge Tuesday in the stabbing death of a Black student that prosecutors say was motivated by race, NBC Washington reports.
Sean Christopher Urbanski was indicted in the May 20 death of Richard Collins III, 23, a Bowie State” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener”>Bowie State University student commissioned as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army, the report said.
The indictment is unusual because it is rare for White defendants to be charged in the death of African Americans, which in part precipitated the Black Lives Matter movement. But State’s Attorney Angela Alsobrooks said evidence against Urbanski, a purported member of a racist White Supremacist Facebook group called Alt-Reich Nation, shows that Collins was fatally stabbed because of his skin color.
“Again, we can’t discuss in detail without compromising our case what the evidence is in the case, but again the evidence led us to the conclusion that Lt. Collins was murdered because of his race,” Alsobrooks said at a news conference Tuesday in Upper Marlboro, Maryland.
Collins was killed at a campus bus stop around 3 a.m. on May 20, just three days before he was going to graduate from the historically Black college. A screaming Urbanski reportedly approached and threatened Collins and his two friends, according to case documents. Urbanski then fatally stabbed Collins once in the chest, the New York Daily News reported.
Video of the fatal attack caught by a security camera has been crucial to the case, which increased racial tensions at the University of Maryland.
A murder charge was filed against Urbanski immediately following the stabbing, NBC reported.
Evidence collected from Urbanski’s phone and computers shed enough light on his motive to prompt further charges, Alsobrooks said. Exactly what digital evidence was found or presented to the grand jury was not announced.
Urbanski is facing a life sentence for the murder charge, and an additional 20 years in prison for a hate crime resulting in death. His trial is expected to begin in January.
SOURCE: NBC Washington, New York Daily News
SEE ALSO:
Murder Charge For Man In Fatal Stabbing Of Black Student At University Of Maryland
FBI Investigates Whether Fatal Stabbing Of Black Student Was A Hate Crime
28 Photos Of O.J. Simpson And The Key Players In His Murder Trial
28 Photos Of O.J. Simpson And The Key Players In His Murder Trial
1. O.J. seen talking to his lawyers Robert Shapiro, Johnnie Cochran, and Robert Kardashian during a trial date.
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2. The late Robert Kardashian defends his friend O.J. Simpson in court.
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3. O.J. Simpson and his ex-wife Nicole Brown in seemingly happier times.
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4. AI Cowlings, the friend who drove O.J. during his infamous Bronco chase.
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5. Judge Lance Ito listens to defense motions to exclude Mark Fuhrman’s testimony and the prosecutions’ response to retain the information 11 September during a court hearing in the O.J. Simpson murder trail.
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6. O.J. x Johnnie Cochran.
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7. Deputy District Attorney Chris Darden asks Judge Lance Ito in the O.J.Simpson case 13 January to bar the defense from asking Los Angeles Police detective Mark Fuhrman if he ever uttered a racial epithet.
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8. Did O.J. do it?
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9. The scene around O.J.’s October 3rd trial date.
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10. O.J.’s sister spotted near the crime scene.
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11. The crowd cheers after hearing the verdict on October 3rd, 1995.
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12. A much earlier photo of O.J. and his good friend AI Cowlings, circa 1979.
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13. O.J. tries on a glove that was used in the murder of his ex-wife.
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14. O.J. Simpson and his ex-wife Nicole Brown in seemingly happier times.
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15. Deputy district attorney Marcia Clark is shown during testimony at the preliminary hearings.
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16. O.J. Simpson and his kids at Nicole Simpson’s funeral.
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17. Robert Shapiro reads O.J.’s damning letter to the press.
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18. O.J. Simpson with Nicole and the kids during happier times.
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19. Johnnie Cochran lays down the law, circa 1995.
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20. The Juice at his 1994-1995 murder trial.
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21. Robert Kardashian sits through trial.
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22. O.J. heading to court in his civil trial for the deaths of Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman.
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23. Robert Shapiro x O.J. Simpson.
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24. Robert Shapiro in 2015.
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25. O.J. Simpson leaving the courthouse after the civil trial that followed his murder trial.
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26. O.J. heads to the place he knows best, court.
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27. O.J. at an evidentiary hearing in 2013.
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28. O.J. at an evidentiary hearing in 2013.
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Continue reading 28 Photos Of O.J. Simpson And The Key Players In His Murder Trial
28 Photos Of O.J. Simpson And The Key Players In His Murder Trial
On this day in 1995, former football player O.J. Simpson was acquitted of the June 12, 1994 murders of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman. Simpson's trial was called the trial of the century and divided people along racial lines. See Also: President Donald Trump’s Voter Fraud Claims Could Lead To More Voter Suppression CNN.com reported, "Testimony in the trial took almost nine months, encompassing about 120 witnesses, 45,000 pages of evidence and 1,100 exhibits. But the jury of 10 women and two men, comprising nine Blacks, two whites and one Hispanic." It took less than four hours to reach the verdicts. See the clip below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rurKd569xRw No one can deny the impact of Simpson's trial. It changed the way we viewed race, celebrity and our criminal justice system. See the images of the key players from the trial below.
White Supremacist Indicted In Stabbing Death Of Maryland HBCU Student was originally published on newsone.com
