McCoy: DA’s Handling of D.J. Bell Case is “Disgraceful”
09.28.2009 by Jeff Robinson
(KCPW News) Openly gay state Senator Scott McCoy is criticizing Salt Lake County District Attorney Lohra Miller for pursuing kidnapping charges against a gay South Salt Lake man. David James Bell was acquitted of those charges last week. But his neighbors back in July, 2008, who admit they beat Bell severely, have yet to be charged with any crime.
“No charges have been brought against the individuals that beat D.J. and his partner, and yelled gay slurs and epithets as they did it. To me this is disgraceful,” McCoy said.
McCoy made that comment at the Salt Lake City Main Library on Saturday while introducing Judy Shepard, whose son Matthew was the victim of an anti-gay hate crime in 1998.
Senator McCoy believes the people who attacked Bell were committing a hate crime themselves, and he called on the district attorney to charge them with a hate crime.
“We do have hate crimes in the state of Utah that are happening. We do have a law on the books to deal with it, but that doesn’t really matter if we don’t have law enforcement officials and prosecutors who are willing to recognize a hate crime when it happens, to investigate it as a hate crime, and to prosecute it as a hate crime,” he said.
The district attorney’s office has said it may pursue charges against Bell’s attackers, now that Bell has been acquitted. And in a statement, the DA’s office also defended its decision to prosecute Bell in the first place.
Thank you to EVERYONE for your support throughout this ordeal! I understand why the DA’s office defends its decision to prosecute me. No one wants to admit when they’re wrong, especially a government entity. It’s sad that so many people in a position of power feel they have to appear infallible to the rest of us, even at the cost of someone else’s life. I only pray that a lesson was learned by all.
Thank you Senator McCoy for publicly calling on SL County SA Lohra Miller to file charges and pursue prosecution of DJ’s attackers.
This is such a disgrace to the citizens of Salt Lake, especially to DJ and his partner.
I would like to see the same pressure applied by our other elected officials, both state and local.
We will remember this case when DA Lohra Miller goes up for re-election.
I am totally Embarrass of the South Salt Lake Police Department, this a total injustices, I hope sure they get assault charges. I support Bell on what ever he wants to do. This was Hate Crime.
It would of been great if this case recieved this amount of attention from the beginning. These men have been fighting for over a year, the only support was from friends. I hope the DA’s office will get some pressure to right this wrong.