Hearing sought in hate-crime case

A lawyer representing Frankie Maybee of Green Forest wants the U.S. Supreme Court to consider his client’s case.

Byron Rhodes of Hot Springs filed a petition with the Supreme Court on Sept. 18 asking the court to consider the case because it was the first jury conviction in the country under a 2009 law that expanded the federal government’s role in investigating and prosecuting hate crimes.

“We essentially said ... the reason was because this case pertains to a new, important law and the lower Circuit Court opinion is the first and there are other similar cases being appealed in other circuit courts. That’s a good reason why the Supreme Court should take this one,” Rhodes said Thursday.

Maybee, 21, was convicted in May 2011 in U.S. District Court in Harrison of five counts of violating the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act after he used a pickup on June 20, 2010, to force a car off U.S. 412 near Alpena, injuring five Hispanic men.

He also was found guilty of one count of conspiring to violate the hate-crimes act.

U.S. District Judge Jimm L. Hendren sentenced Maybee to 11 years and three months.

Rhodes has argued that there’s no evidence that Maybee, who is white, committed the act because of race. Rhodes also contends that the hate-crimes act is unconstitutional.

On Aug. 6, a three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at St. Louis upheld the lower court’s ruling. In a unanimous decision, the panel also upheld the act, a law that Congress approved under the power of the 13th Amendment, which calls for abolishing vestiges of slavery.

Sean Popejoy, 20, also of Green Forest, pleaded guilty to one count of violating the hate-crimes act and one count of conspiring with Maybee to violate the act. Popejoy is serving a four-year sentence.