A North Carolina man has been found guilty of committing hate crimes against two men based on their race.
On Jan. 11, a federal jury reached a guilty verdict after finding that the defendant deliberately utilized KKK and Nazi memorabilia and other items to engage in intimidation by threatening the two victims with firearms, a violation of their civil rights.
The Justice Department charged Marian Hudak, 52, with deliberately causing harm, intimidating, or interfering with an individual identified as J.S., a Black man, based on his race and color. These actions occurred while J.S. was utilizing a public facility on Oct. 13, 2022.
According to court documents, Hudak started harassing J.S. while the Greensboro native was driving in Concord, N.C., and blasted the Black man with racial slurs and called out to him, “Come here, boy.”
In addition to the verbal harassment, Hudak swerved into the lane the Black man was driving in, got out of his vehicle, and then repeatedly punched the victim’s driver’s side window. When the man tried to escape, Hudak chased him to his home, where he compounded the racial slurs and aggressive language by threatening to shoot and kill him.
He was also charged and convicted of willfully injuring, intimidating, or interfering with a Hispanic man named J.D. Prosecutors were able to prove that Hudak targeted his neighbor J.D. because of his race and national origin, violating his right to live wherever he wanted by intimidating.
On Nov. 27, 2021, Hudak attacked his J.D. outside of his home, blanketing him with racial epithets and insults before punching and tackling him down.
Reports state that the Hispanic man suffered bodily injury.
During the trial, witnesses testified that the incident involving J.D. was not the first time Hudak used anti-Hispanic comments in public. In fact, the prosecutor was able to substantiate his bigotry by sharing items such as a KKK flag, a racist publication, and Nazi…
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