A Florida man who pleaded guilty to a federal hate crime for a racially motivated attack on a black man faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, three years of mandatory supervised release and a $250,000 fine.
Robert Lashley, 52, pleaded guilty Oct. 4 “for attacking a Black man because of his actual and perceived race,” an Oct. 4 news release said. Lashley attacked the black man Nov. 17, 2021, in a parking lot at Family Dollar in Citrus Springs, Fla. Lashley and Roy Lamar Lashley also hurled racial slurs at the man “before, during and after the attack.” The man’s face and legs were injured.
“The defendant is being held accountable for subjecting a Black man to a brutal and racially- motivated assault,” Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said in the release. “Convictions like these make clear that the Department of Justice will continue to investigate and prosecute individuals who violently assault others because of their race. Racially-motivated hate crimes have no place in our society.”
Both Lashley men were charged with “aiding and abetting one another, with willfully causing bodily injury to the victim because of the victim’s actual and perceived race,” the release said. The case against Roy Lamar Lashley is ongoing. A sentencing hearing for Robert Lashley has not yet been set.
“Acts of violence against anyone because of their race or ethnicity are abhorrent,” U.S. Attorney Roger Handberg for the Middle District of Florida said in the release. “We will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to ensure that such crimes are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
Hate crimes threaten and intimidate communities, Sherri Onks, special agent in charge of the Jacksonville FBI field office in Florida, said in the release.
“Because of their wide-ranging impact, investigating and preventing hate crimes is a top priority for the FBI, and we will stop at nothing to protect the public from these heinous crimes,” Onks said, according to the release.
