April 17, 2012
2 Ky. Women Enter Guilty Plea in Hate Crime Case
Jason St. Amand READ TIME: 1 MIN.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) - Two Kentucky women have pleaded guilty to helping kidnap and assault a gay man in the first convictions using a section of the federal hate crime law that protects against attacks motivated by sexual orientation.
The U.S. Attorney's Office in Lexington says Mable Ashley Jenkins and Alexis LeeAnn Jenkins entered guilty pleas to aiding and abetting the kidnapping and hate crime assault of a man last April at a mountaintop Appalachian park in southeastern Kentucky. A federal court unsealed the guilty pleas by the 19-year-olds on Friday.
They will be sentenced in August. Two men - 37-year-old David Jason Jenkins and 20-year-old Anthony Ray Jenkins - have pleaded not guilty to charges of kidnapping, assault and violating the hate crime law. A trial date has been scheduled for June 18.
