Seattle PI News reports on the sentencing of a white supremacist Eric Lee Garner to 1 and 1/2 years in prison for assault threatening to use a knife on a Muslim woman and her 6 month old baby.
“A 24-year-old man accused of threatening to cut a woman and her infant because she is Muslim was sentenced to 1 ½ years in prison Friday following a conviction on hate crime and assault charges.”
“Eric Lee Garner, a homeless man recently of Auburn, threatened to harm the woman and her 6-month-old son as she waited in line at the Seattle Indian Health Board office on July 1. Garner, police say, began yelling at the woman for wearing a headscarf before displaying a sheathed fixed blade knife and threatening to cut her genitals.”
“‘I’m going to cut you and your baby with this knife!’ Garner allegedly said. Police say Garner continued to make anti-Muslim remarks throughout the tirade.”
“Garner’s legal troubles did not end with Friday’s hearing — he is currently facing rape charges on allegations that he sexually assaulted a 13-year-old at knifepoint.”
“Sentencing Garner to the longest standard sentence for the crimes, King County Superior Court Judge Laura Inveen noted Garner’s apparent history of violence.”
“‘You resort to violence,’ the judge told Garner. ‘You’ve been resorting to violence for a very long time.'”
“In the July 1 attack, Garner was stopped from drawing the knife by a worker at the office. According to charging documents, the worker at the office grabbed the weapon and wrested it from him, according to police. Garner then recovered the knife and fled, police said.”
“Following his arrest days later, prosecutors say Garner continued to make threatening statements.”
“‘In this incident, the defendant yelled numerous inflammatory comments about Muslims at a Muslim woman who was a complete stranger,’ Deputy Prosecutor Val Richey said in court documents. ‘He told the arresting officers that he had a fully automatic AK-47 that he bought after 9/11 and that he was a white supremacist.'”
March 9, 2010 Seattle Times report: “Man pleads guilty to threatening Muslim woman, baby”
July 7, 2009 Seattle Times report: “Man charged with hate crime for threatening Muslim woman”