| For Immediate Release Case # 10WF2418 October 25, 2010 |
Susan Kang Schroeder Chief of Staff Office: 714-347-8408 Cell: 714-292-2718Farrah Emami Spokesperson Office: 714-347-8405 Cell: 714-323-4486 |
CAUCASIAN MAN SENTENCED TO FOUR YEARS IN PRISON FOR HATE CRIME FOR VERBALLY ACCOSTING AFRICAN-AMERICAN WOMAN AND ASSAULTING HER MALE FRIEND
WESTMINSTER – A Caucasian man was sentenced Friday to four years in state prison for committing a hate crime against an African-American woman and her Caucasian male friend by verbally and physically accosting the victims. John Keihl DeLoach, 20, Huntington Beach, pleaded guilty to a court offer Friday, Oct. 22. 2010, to one felony count of hate crime battery causing injury and one felony count of hate crime assault causing injury. He has a prior strike conviction for residential burglary in 2009.
At approximately 3:30 p.m. on Sept. 1, 2010, DeLoach drove by a Huntington Beach convenience store playing loud, racist music with explicit anti-black lyrics. When the defendant saw victim Briana W., an African-American woman, inside the store through the window, he pulled his vehicle near the store and turned up the volume of his music.
At approximately 9:40 p.m. that night, Briana W. was walking to a friend’s apartment in Huntington Beach with a Caucasian male friend, Derrick S. The defendant, who happened to be in the same apartment complex visiting a friend, recognized the victim as the woman from the store earlier in the day and yelled after her. He yelled racial slurs and stated that interracial relationships were wrong.
DeLoach and an unknown male accomplice ran up to Briana W. and continued to yell at her. Briana W. asked, “What, dude?” and the defendant yelled at Derrick S. to control his “b****.” When Derrick S. stepped between Briana W. and the defendant, DeLoach punched Derrick S. in the face. Derrick S. fell to the ground and DeLoach kicked him twice in the back.
The defendant then fled the scene and Briana W. called 911. Derrick S. suffered a contusion on the side of his head as a result of the attack. The Huntington Beach Police Department (HBPD) investigated this case.
On Oct. 1, 2010, the defendant was charged by the Orange County District Attorney’s Office and a warrant was issued for his arrest. That day, HBPD officers arrested the defendant at Overlook Park. When contacted by officers, DeLoach ran and resisted arrest.
Deputy District Attorney Israel Claustro of the Special Prosecutions Unit prosecuted this case.
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