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Alleged Bias Beating Upsets Calm In Tex. Town

Neighbor Nancy Benavides, who saw paramedics transport the beating victim, said his face was unrecognizable. He has remained unconscious since the attack and is now on dialysis.
Neighbor Nancy Benavides, who saw paramedics transport the beating victim, said his face was unrecognizable. He has remained unconscious since the attack and is now on dialysis. (By Sarah L. Voisin -- The Washington Post)
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But authorities said that a correlation between the attack and anti-immigrant or anti-Latino sentiment could not be proved.

"I don't know that the very beginning of the attack was racial, but there's no question that they were venting quite a bit of hatred in their hearts," said prosecutor Mike Trent, the Associated Press reported. He said that adding hate crime charges to the aggravated sexual assault charges would have no legal effect. Both are first-degree felonies.

Authorities said the attack occurred at the home of a 16-year-old friend of Turner's. Turner brought Tuck along with him for the evening, during which alcohol and drugs were consumed for several hours. Authorities said the host's mother was asleep in a bedroom and told officers later that she did not hear anything.

Investigators said Tuck and Turner dragged the Hispanic youth into the back yard between 5 and 8 a.m. Sunday, beat him with their fists and then, while he was on the ground, began kicking him in the head with their steel-toe boots. They then allegedly sodomized him with a plastic pipe from a patio table umbrella, while shouting ethnic slurs.

Prosecutors also said the victim had high levels of toxins in his organs, indicating the attackers may have poured bleach inside the pipe that was used to sodomize him. Doctors believe the youth passed out quickly and was unconscious for the final minutes of the attack.

The host's mother called 911 at 9:47 a.m. Sunday, according to the sheriff's office, after she awoke and discovered the unconscious youth. The victim has since remained unconscious at Memorial Hermann Hospital -- on a ventilator and, since Thursday, on dialysis.

If the victim dies, the charges against Tuck and Turner will be upgraded to capital murder because of the sexual assault, making Tuck eligible for the death penalty, authorities said. Turner is too young to be eligible for execution.

"This is one of the crimes the death penalty is designed for. To quote the Supreme Court, this is a crime that 'shocks the conscience,' " said Lt. John Denholm, commanding officer of the Harris County Sheriff's Office homicide division.

"You can't imagine doing this to a dumb animal, much less to a human being."


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