Federal grand jury indicts 4 in hate crime

BOISE – A federal grand jury has indicted four people accused of committing a hate crime in an attack on a black man outside a southwestern Idaho store on the Fourth of July last year.

The indictment issued Wednesday in U.S. District Court alleges that Michael J. Bullard, Richard C. Armstrong, James D. Whitewater and Jennifer J. Hartpence saw the unidentified victim in the Wal-Mart store.

According to court papers, the group discussed beating the man while standing at a checkout counter and while they walked toward the store exit, Bullard removed his watch and gave it to Hartpence to safeguard in her purse.

The four waited for the man in the parking lot and Bullard approached him and asked what country he thought he was in, according to the indictment.

Bullard is accused of throwing his lit cigarette at the man while Armstrong, Whitewater and Hartpence yelled threats and racial slurs, according to the indictment.

Court papers say the fleeing man was tackled by Bullard near the edge of the parking lot and repeatedly kicked and beaten while he lay on the ground.

Bullard, Armstrong, Whitewater and Hartpence are each charged with knowingly and willfully conspiring to harm the man because of his race. They each face a second count of aiding and abetting one another in the assault.

“We are well past the time in Idaho when a person’s race, color, religion or ethnicity can be the basis for an assault,” said Thomas Moss, U.S. attorney for Idaho, in a statement on Thursday.

“Everyone has a legal right to frequent a business that serves as a public accommodation without being injured or intimidated based on race,” Moss said.

If convicted, Bullard, Armstrong, Whitewater and Hartpence each face a maximum of 20 years in federal prison.

The case was investigated by the FBI and the Nampa Police Department, according to the statement released by the U.S. Justice Department.