Florida man sentenced for hate crime

FLORIDA — A Florida man has been sentenced in federal court in the Middle District of Florida for a racially motivated hate crime, the U.S. Department of Justice has announced.

According to the Department of Justice (DOJ), Jordan Patrick Leahy, 29, was sentenced to 24 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release for a racially motivated attack against a Black man traveling down a public roadway with his family in Seminole, Florida.

The DOJ said Leahy was convicted of willfully intimidating and interfering with a Black man identified as J.T. and attempting to injure, intimidate and interfere with J.T. through the use of a dangerous weapon (Leahy’s vehicle) because of J.T.’s race and color, and because J.T. was traveling on a public roadway in Seminole, Florida.

Specifically, the government introduced evidence at trial that when Leahy, while driving, came upon J.T. driving on a public road, Leahy shouted racial slurs at J.T. and attempted to force J.T.’s car off the road.

J.T.’s girlfriend and four-year-old daughter were in the car at the time. When officers from the Pinellas County Sherriff’s Office arrived on the scene, Leahy made numerous statements evidencing his biased motive, including telling the officers that Black people need to be kept “in their areas.”

“This federal court has sentenced Jordan Leahy to prison for his decision to weaponize his vehicle in a racist attack on J.T.’s family,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.

“The department will continue to aggressively prosecute those who seek to threaten and intimidate our community members because of their race. All persons should be free to travel on the public roadways without fear of being harmed because of who they are.”

Assistant Attorney General Clarke, U.S. Attorney Handberg, and Special Agent in Charge Walker made the announcement.

The FBI Tampa Field Office, the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office, and the Florida Highway Patrol investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Carlton Gammons for the Middle District of Florida and Trial Attorneys David Reese and Laura-Kate Bernstein of the Civil Rights Division are prosecuting the case.