H‑0180.1   _____________________________________________

HOUSE BILL 2032

           _____________________________________________

State of Washington      57th Legislature     2001 Regular Session

By Representatives Murray and McDermott

Read first time .  Referred to .

_1      AN ACT Relating to malicious harassment; and amending RCW

_2  9A.36.080.

_3  BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

_4      Sec. 1.  RCW 9A.36.080 and 1993 c 127 s 2 are each amended to read

_5  as follows:

_6      (1) A person is guilty of malicious harassment if he or she

_7  maliciously and intentionally commits one of the following acts

_8  because of his or her perception of the victim's race, color,

_9  religion, ancestry, national origin, gender, sexual orientation,

10  or mental, physical, or sensory handicap:

11      (a) Causes physical injury to the victim or another person;

12      (b) Causes physical damage to or destruction of the property of

13  the victim or another person; or

14      (c) Threatens a specific person or group of persons and places

15  that person, or members of the specific group of persons, in

16  reasonable fear of harm to person or property.  The fear must be a

17  fear that a reasonable person would have under all the

18  circumstances.  For purposes of this section, a "reasonable

19  person" is a reasonable person who is a member of the victim's

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_1  race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, gender, or

_2  sexual orientation, or who has the same mental, physical, or

_3  sensory handicap as the victim.  Words alone do not constitute

_4  malicious harassment unless the context or circumstances

_5  surrounding the words indicate the words are a threat. Threatening

_6  words do not constitute malicious harassment if it is apparent to

_7  the victim that the person does not have the ability to carry out

_8  the threat.

_9      (2) In any prosecution for malicious harassment, unless

10  evidence exists which explains to the trier of fact's satisfaction

11  that the person did not intend to threaten the victim or victims,

12  the trier of fact may infer that the person intended to threaten a

13  specific victim or group of victims because of the person's

14  perception of the victim's or victims' race, color, religion,

15  ancestry, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, or mental,

16  physical, or sensory handicap if the person commits one of the

17  following acts:

18      (a) Burns a cross on property of a victim who is or whom the

19  actor perceives to be of African American heritage; or

20      (b) Defaces property of a victim who is or whom the actor

21  perceives to be of Jewish heritage by defacing the property with a

22  swastika.

23      This subsection only applies to the creation of a reasonable

24  inference for evidentiary purposes.  This subsection does not

25  restrict the state's ability to prosecute a person under

26  subsection (1) of this section when the facts of a particular case

27  do not fall within (a) or (b) of this subsection.

28      (3) It is not a defense that the accused was mistaken that the

29  victim was a member of a certain race, color, religion, ancestry,

30  national origin, gender, or sexual orientation, or had a mental,

31  physical, or sensory handicap.

32      (4) Evidence of expressions or associations of the accused may

33  not be introduced as substantive evidence at trial unless the

34  evidence specifically relates to the crime charged.  Nothing in

35  this chapter shall affect the rules of evidence governing

36  impeachment of a witness.

37      (5) Every person who commits another crime during the

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_1  commission of a crime under this section may be punished and

_2  prosecuted for the other crime separately.

_3      (6) "Sexual orientation" for the purposes of this section means

_4  heterosexuality, homosexuality, ((or)) bisexuality, and gender

_5  expression or identity.

_6      (7) Malicious harassment is a class C felony.

_7      (8) The penalties provided in this section for malicious

_8  harassment do not preclude the victims from seeking any other

_9  remedies otherwise available under law.

10      (9) Nothing in this section confers or expands any civil rights

11  or protections to any group or class identified under this

12  section, beyond those rights or protections that exist under the

13  federal or state Constitution or the civil laws of the state of

14  Washington.

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