TEXAS
A 29-year-old man admitted that he attacked an 81-year-old black man because of the man’s race and color on Nov. 24, 2013, according to authorities.
Defendant Conrad Alvin Barrett, of Katy, Texas, described the racially-motivated attack as a “knockout” and recorded himself on the cell phone attacking the elderly man, officials said.
Barrett will be sentenced in September and is facing up to 10 years in prison, officials said.
Barrett was charged with violating the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act. On Nov. 24, 2013, he attacked the elderly African-American man because of the man’s race and color in what Barrett called a “knockout.”
In the recording, Barrett questions whether there would be national attention if he attacked a person of color
Officials said Barrett also claimed he would not hit “defenseless people” just moments before punching the elderly man in the face and with such force that the victim immediately fell to the ground. Barrett then laughed and said “knockout,” as he ran to his vehicle and fled. The victim suffered two jaw fractures and was hospitalized for several days as a result of the attack.
“This was a senseless and heinous act of violence that was committed simply because the victim was African American,” said Deputy Assistant Attorney Genera Vanita Gupta. “The Department of Justice will continue to use every tool in our arsenal to vindicate the rights of victims of violent crimes.”
The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act was passed on Oct. 22, 2009, and signed into law by President Barack Obama six days later. Shepard was a gay student who was tortured and murdered in 1998 near Laramie, Wyoming. Byrd was an African-American man who was tied to a truck by two white supremacists, dragged behind it and decapitated in Jasper, Texas, in 1998.