Bond denied for burning of gay men

No violent or serious felonies showed up in the state's records system. Start your day with Reason. Looking deeper into the circumstances suggests that Martinez is being locked away in a place where he will probably come out even more troubled.

Just on the face of it, sentencing a man for 15 years in prison for burning any flag for any reason is an injustice. Prisons are not the right place to put people with severe psychological problems, and the people who work there are not suited to deal with whatever psychological issues might be driving Martinez's behavior.

So Martinez faced not just arson and harassment charges but a hate crime enhancement, which pushes the potential sentence higher, putting him at a potential maximum sentence of five years for just the arson. Gibbie has told interviewers that she has been preparing for a possible attack on her church someday, invoking the deadly attack on the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.

If this cruelly long prison sentence is because people fear what Martinez might do, that's bad news. After the interview is seemingly over, he gestures wildly while insisting that "even nonbelievers would agree with [me] on any given day" that he did the right thing by burning the flag.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa man convicted of a hate crime for tearing down and burning an LGBTQ flag hanging outside a Des Moines bar has been sentenced to time served. It's striking for how casually he says things like "I have God on my side" and "It was an honor to do that.

An Iowa man who set fire to a church LGBTQ flag in June was sentenced Wednesday to more than 15 years in prison. The prosecutor recommended the maximum sentence of 15 years, and the judge agreed. Show Comments Did an Iowa Man Get 16 Years in Prison for Burning an LGBT Rainbow Flag?

In Decemberseveral news reports failed to properly explain to readers the impact of "habitual offender" laws on. A search through Iowa's court records shows that Martinez had previously been charged with driving without a license which was dismissedthat he pleaded guilty to driving with a suspended license, and that in he pleaded guilty to dual charges of driving under the influence and possession of marijuana.

Under Iowa's "habitual offenders" guidelinesMartinez will not be eligible for parole for three years.

Iowa court affirms hate

Scott Shackford is a policy research editor at Reason Foundation. An Iowa man was sentenced to 15 years in prison Wednesday for stealing and burning a church's rainbow LGBT pride flag. It was a blessing for the Lord, to stand for his words firmly against all odds, plain and simple.

The Iowa Supreme Court affirmed the hate crime conviction Friday of a man who posted hand-written notes at homes with rainbow flags and emblems, urging them to “burn that gay flag.” The. The Iowa man was found guilty of committing a hate crime against the Iowa gay community.

Though the year-old did threaten to burn the bar down. You can view the entire interview here. Get a daily brief of the most important stories and trends every weekday morning when you subscribe to Reason Roundup. Despite confessing to the crime on camera, Martinez pleaded not guilty and took the case to trial, where a jury convicted him.

This pleased the church's pastor, Eileen Gibbie, who told the Des Moines Register"I often experienced Ames as not being as progressive as many people believe it is, and there still is a very large closeted queer community here. And Martinez also had two prior felonies, meaning he qualified as a "habitual offender" under Iowa's three-strikes law.

Reports of Martinez's sentencing do not, unfortunately, explain what those convictions were for. All this could indicate some mental health issues, and it should be a concern that not very much attention is being paid to that. People are clearly concerned that next time he might do something worse.

But 12 people that I don't know, who have no investment in me or this congregation, said this man committed a crime and it was crime born of bigotry and hatred. No, Adolfo Martinez did not actually hurt or assault anybody in the process of stealing the flag off the front of the United Church of Christ in Ames and burning it in front of a bar he had been kicked out of last June.