By Jessica Flores

A group of Knox County, Ohio teens put a noose around Robert Cantu’s neck and dragged him through a parking lot, shouting “spik” and “border jumper” in May 2008. Last week, one of those teens was convicted of “ethnic intimidation” and sentence to 10 days in jail, an outcome Robert believes sends the wrong message on hate crimes.

Robert says the judge’s sentencing gave the message of “boys being boys.”

But, Robert says the incident was much more than a rough-up, it could have been deadly.

In the middle of the day, the culprits pulled up to a local hang-out, jumped out of a truck with a rope, and spotted 17-year-old Robert , who is half Hispanic.

They dragged Robert from the side-walk to a parking lot, and attempted to tie Robert to the truck and drive away before bystanders were able to stop the teens. Robert escaped with scars and bruises, but he says it could have been worse.

“They had plans to take me to a park and hang me in a tree,” says Robert.

It took five months for the police department to investigate the crime, and only one of the teens involved, Dale Cline, was charged.

Knox County Court House’s Judge James Ronk found Cline guilty of “ethnic intimidation”, which is Ohio’s equivalent of a hate crime. Cline, who is 18, was 17 at the time of the crime and was charged as a minor. The maximum penalty for Cline was 6 months in a juvenile detention center and jail until age 21.

Instead, Judge Ronk sentenced Cline to 10 days in jail and $100 fine. Cline will be released later this week.

This is not the first time Robert was targeted because he is Hispanic. He is continually harassed and called derogatory names by local residents, he says. His mother, Marci Cantu, says his family was even threatened after Cline’s sentencing.

In January 2008, Justyn Harris, 19, beat Robert unconscious while calling him racial slurs. Harris served 35 in jail before being released.

The Cantu family has decided to move back to Texas. They moved from Houston, Texas nine years ago to take care of an elderly grandparent.

“I kind of don’t want to go because I have some really good friends here and I don’t want to leave them. But if I stay here, I might die,” says Robert.

Robert plans to continue playing baseball in Texas, and hopes to get a scholarship to play in college.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009 at 4:09 pm and is filed under Hate Crimes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.