A call to enforce hate crime laws in Wisconsin. James Nichols is to be sentenced Wednesday for the January shooting death of Cha Vang. The men were both squirrel hunting near Marinette, but many members of the Hmong community, such as Peng Her, believe Nichols targeted Vang. Her calls the killing, “a clear cut case of a hate crime,” adding that the failure to charge Nichols with a hate crime was “very disconcerting to the Hmong community, as well as other communities of color.”
Her believes the judge ought to consider evidence of a hate crime, at Nichols' sentencing: “statements made by Nichols himself, as well as other witnesses, shows he intentionally chose Mr. Vang.” Nichols was initially charged with first degree intentional homicide, but a jury convicted him on a lesser charge of second degree intentional homicide. Her and other organizers of a rally at the Capitol on Monday want the state Department of Justice to seek the maximum penalty, as well as enforce hate crime laws and increase the investigation and prosecution of hate crimes.