A New Jersey man admitted to a series of violent hate crimes, for driving his car into a group of people and stabbing one because they were Jewish.
Dion Marsh, 29, from Manchester, New Jersey, pleaded guilty in a federal court hearing in Trenton on Thursday to four counts of committing hate crimes and one of carjacking. He faces being sentenced to life in prison later this year.
He was charged with willfully causing bodily injury to five victims, and attempting to kill and cause injuries with dangerous weapons to four of them in 2022 in and around Lakewood, New Jersey, because they were Jewish, the United States Attorney’s Office said in a statement.
The case comes as tensions continue to run high across the U.S. due to the ongoing Israel-Gaza war, which has been linked to a rise in discrimination and violent crimes against both Jews and Muslims.
“This defendant violently attacked five men, driving a car into four of them, stabbing one of them in the chest, and attempting to kill them, simply because they were visibly identifiable as Orthodox Jews,” U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said in the statement.
Sellinger said his office would push for a sentence that “holds Marsh accountable for his brutal and hate-filled rampage.”
He continued: “The threat from hate-fueled violence is a sad reality across our state and our nation. That hate is not who we are.”
Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke said Marsh had admitted to a “series of depraved, antisemitic assaults against members of the Orthodox Jewish community.”
Special Agent James E. Dennehy of the FBI said that while hating someone was not a crime, attacking them because of that hate is.
“Personal beliefs don’t give someone the right to attack and attempt to kill another human being because they may not ascribe to a similar religion or way of life,” Dennehy said.
At 1:18 p.m on April 8, 2022, Marsh forced a man dressed in traditional Jewish Orthodox dress out of his car, assaulting and harming him in the…
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