3 White Men charged with bias crime in year-old assault against Black Couple in Virginia
Three men from the Iron Range have been charged with a bias crime in St. Louis County District Court after an investigation of a year-old incident in Virginia.
Gerald William Meagher Jr., 34, of Virginia; Chad James Stevens, 23, of Mountain Iron; and Lee Scott Randall, 23, of Aurora, were charged Monday in the assault of a couple in the early morning on Nov. 3, 2011. Their first court date is scheduled for Jan. 4.
The complaint in the case states that the three men harassed the couple while passing them in a pickup truck as the two stood near Second Avenue and Eighth Street South in Virginia. The report says the men targeted the male for his race, using racial epithets, including numerous utterings of the n-word.
The men are accused of later stopping the truck driven by Randall and attacking the couple, punching the woman and punching and kicking the male. Police were called at 2:28 a.m.
A hat and cell phone left at the scene led police to Stevens, and he was identified in a police lineup.
The men are charged with fourth-degree assault, a gross misdemeanor. The attack was characterized as based on the male’s race, making it a bias crime under state law.
The police report says the men admitted to fighting with the couple and witnesses also provided descriptions of the attack and the words used.
Assistant County Attorney Leah Stauber said the case originally went to the Department of Justice to see if it qualified under federal hate crime standards. After the federal department declined to charge in the case, the county went ahead, she said.