Hate Crime Victim Commits Suicide

David Ritcheson, who was a victim of a hate crime, committed suicide July 1st at the age of 18.

Equality Texas sent out a mass email today announcing his death and said that Ritcheson testified in April for the passage of the Matthew Shepard Act, a hate crimes bill.

Ritcheson, of Spring, TX, survived a brutal hate crime in April last year when self-professed Skinheads cut, burned, sodomized, and poured bleach over him and yelled anti-Hispanic slurs.

"Last November and December, Ritcheson sat in a courtroom in Harris County, Texas and faced his attackers for the first time as they went through their respective trials," a press release from Equality Texas stated. "Ritcheson's attackers eventually were convicted of aggravated sexual assault; one was given a life sentence, the other 90 years."

The release said that less than three months ago on April 17th this year, Ritcheson went to Washington, D.C. and testified before the House Judiciary Committee urging passage of the "Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2007," also known as the Matthew Shepard Act.

Equality Texas is urging citizens to send letters to their senators and President George W. Bush at eqfed.org. The Senate will soon vote on the Act, a federal bill.

"It is ironic that 73 percent of Americans support comprehensive hate crimes legislation, but the majority of people contacting Senators oppose the bill," a rep of Equality Texas said. "Despite the obvious bias motivation of the crime against David, neither the state of Texas nor the federal government was able to utilize hate crime laws on the books in the prosecution of his attackers."

Ritcheson's testimony before the Committee included these words: "I appear before you as a survivor of one of the most despicable, shocking, and heinous acts of hate violence this country has seen in decades."

Ritcheson told the Committee that weeks after his attack he recalled waking up in the hospital with a myriad of emotions, including fear and uncertainty.