Black Teens Charged With a Hate Crime Sentenced to Probation

From NPR.com: Four sentences of house arrest and probation are handed down in the Long Beach, Calif., hate-crime trial of 10 black teenagers, as the judge in the case continues to deviate from prosecutors' recommendations. The victims, three white women who were attacked on Halloween, were visibly upset at the sentencing hearing.

Prosecutors had sought more severe punishment for three of the girls, including time in the California Youth Authority system.

In ordering community service, house arrest, probation and counseling for the youths, Judge Gibson Lee duplicated the sentences he delivered Friday — an unusual step in a case in which some of those convicted are believed to have played more aggressive, and violent, roles than others.

All but one of the teens — 8 females and 1 male — were convicted of assault in a non-jury trial. A 12-year-old was acquitted. Listen. . . [Mark Godsey]