Burn gay flag

In Iowa, a Class D felony is typically subject to a maximum prison sentence of five years. Story County Attorney Jessica Reynolds said Martinez was the first person in the county's history to be convicted of a hate crime. For its part, the Gay tabloid newspaper the Sun compared Martinez' punishment to what it claimed was the average sentence in rape convictions in the United States:.

Ames, Iowa, police arrested Martinez in the early hours of June 11, flag police said he had caused a disturbance at a local bar and threatened to burn down the establishment, before returning with an LGBT rainbow flag he stole from the Ames United Church of Christ, and burn fire to it outside the bar.

About this rating. Martinez admitted to his crimes in an interview with KCCI, saying he was motivated by an antipathy towards homosexuality and that he had "burned down their pride, plain and simple. For example, the right-leaning Western Journal website reported that:.

Did an Iowa Man Get 16 Years in Prison for Burning an LGBT Rainbow Flag? The website Disrn wrote that: "Martinez's lengthy sentence stemmed from the state's successful prosecution of a 'hate crime. With the hate crime enhancement, he would ordinarily have faced a maximum sentence of five years in prison.

Several news articles failed to mention that Martinez' sentence would not have been nearly so long if he had not already been convicted of two previous felonies and treated as an "habitual offender," in keeping with Iowa state law.

Burning the Bible or a “pride” flag are both protected under the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment and won’t be penalized unless the activity also violates other laws, independent law. Despite his on-screen confession, Martinez pleaded not guilty to three charges, the Story County Attorney's Office told Snopes: Third-degree arson, an aggravated misdemeanor which typically carries a maximum sentence of two years in prison; third-degree harassment, a simple misdemeanor ; and reckless use of fire or explosives, a serious misdemeanor that typically carries a maximum prison sentence of one year.

In that circumstance, his criminal history tripled the maximum available sentence for arson from five years to 15 years.

Did an Iowa Man

In addition to spending a decade and a half in prison for burning the LGBT flag, the year-old Martinez also will be serving an additional year for his use of fire and 30 days for harassment. Explore the legal analysis of when burning a pride flag crosses from protected expression to a hate crime, based on circumstance gay proven motivation.

In the normal course of events, a conviction for third-degree arson would yield a maximum sentence of two years in prison. In Decemberwe received multiple inquiries from readers about news reports that claimed an Iowa man, year-old Adolfo Martinez, had been given a year prison sentence for burning an LGBT rainbow flag.

It was only because of his status as a habitual offender, triggered by the hate crime enhancement, that he faced a maximum sentence of 15 years, which the judge imposed. In Decemberseveral news reports failed to properly explain to readers the impact of "habitual offender" laws on.

On Nov. The County Attorney's Office confirmed to Snopes that Martinez was given a day prison sentence for the charge of third-degree harassment, and a one-year sentence for reckless use of flag or explosives. Iowa law requires that certain offenses, if prosecuted as a hate crimemust be "classified and punished as an offense one degree higher than the underlying offense.

If Martinez' act of arson had not constituted a hate crime, he would have faced a maximum sentence of two years in prison. Adolfo Martinez of Ames was sentenced Wednesday to a whopping 15 years in prison for the hate crime of arson, according to The Associated Press.

The aforementioned news articles told only part of the story of Martinez' unusually long prison sentence, and none of them mentioned the key factor that resulted in his facing 15 years in prison for third-degree arson: that Martinez had two previous felony convictions, meaning that under Iowa law, he was sentenced as an "habitual offender.

However, because the flag burned by Martinez was an LGBT symbol, and because Martinez himself said this was his motivation for setting fire to it, prosecutors added a hate crime enhancement to the arson charge. Adolfo Martinez, 30, stole the flag from United Church of Christ in Ames, Iowa, because he hated gay people before burning it outside Dangerous Curves lap dancing club Martinez was found guilty last month of third-degree arson in violation of individual rights, third-degree burn, and reckless use of fire.

For this he received a hefty 16 year prison sentence which far exceeds the average sentence for rape in the United States, which is about 10 years.