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Felony & Hate Crime Charges Dropped in Tahoe Assault
India-West
By SUNITA SOHRABJI
August 6, 2008
Felony and hate crime charges have been dropped against a South Lake Tahoe couple accused of kicking and punching a San Francisco banker while shouting racial epithets, evoking outrage in the Indian American community.
The couple instead pleaded guilty to five misdemeanor charges July 31, and are scheduled for sentencing Sept. 24, where they face six months to a year in county jail.
El Dorado County Superior Court Judge Suzanne Kingsbury dropped the felony charges against the couple June 26, saying the evidence in the case did not support the definition of a hate crime.
“We were pretty shocked by the judge’s decision,” Shirin Sinnar, staff attorney with the Asian Law Caucus in San Francisco, told India-West. “If any case would have fit the definition of a hate crime, this would have been it,” she said.
According to court briefs, Vishal Wadhwa, 38, a vice president and banker with Citi Private Bank, was attacked by South Lake Tahoe residents Joseph and Georgia Silva on July 14, 2007, while walking on El Dorado Beach in Tahoe with his fiancé Ayesha Matthews and her cousin, Marianna Abraham.
Georgia Silva allegedly yelled “Indian sluts,” as Matthews and Abraham walked past her. The two women did not respond, but caught up with Wadhwa who was further down the beach.
Wadhwa went back to the Silvas and asked them to stop calling the women names. The Silvas then began to yell derogatory comments at Wadhwa, calling him an “Arab asshole,” and “bin Laden.” As Wadhwa left the beach to call police, the Silvas followed him and allegedly attacked him in the parking lot.
A report by the South Lake Tahoe Police Department cites a witness who saw Georgia Silva tackle Wadhwa to the ground. Joseph Silva then allegedly kicked Wadhwa in the face repeatedly with his bare foot.
Wadhwa suffered a broken orbital socket, which required surgery, his attorney Edwin Prather told India-West.
“Apart from the emotional, physical, and psychological trauma he suffered, the beating will cause him to have dizzy spells for the rest of his life,” he said.
Wadhwa plans to file a civil suit against the Silvas, according to Prather.
“Judge Kingsbury’s dismissal of the hate crime and felony charges is shocking and makes me believe that not just the Silvas but the whole Tahoe region is dangerous for people of color,” Wadhwa told India-West by e-mail.
A court brief filed by attorney Elizabeth Grossman, who is representing the Silvas, said the attack by her clients did not produce the “great bodily injury” necessary for a felony charge, because Silva used his bare foot. Grossman said the incident amounted to a disturbing the peace type of argument and should be viewed as a misdemeanor battery case.
No hate crime had been committed, since the definition of such a crime must include racist words with a threat of harm, Grossman told India-West. Racially offensive words by themselves do not constitute a hate crime, she said.
“The incident was not acceptable, not attractive, not okay, but not a hate crime,” she said, adding, “The judge did what was appropriate by throwing the felony charges out.”
The Silvas have tremendous psychological and emotional challenges, said Grossman, but would not say what those challenges were. “They are not racist people. They’re just having a hard time getting by in the world,” she said, adding that both have been hospitalized during the course of the case.
“If this isn’t a hate crime, what is?” questioned Harmeet Dhillon, chair of the civil rights committee of the South Asian Bar Association for Northern California. Dhillon told India-West that SABA had put substantial pressure on the District Attorney’s office a year ago to get the case tried as a hate crime.
“I do not understand the decision by the DA’s office not to appeal the judge’s ruling,” said Dhillon, who is currently running for a seat on the California State Assembly.
SABA is gathering signatures in an online petition which will be sent to Kingsbury before the Silvas are sentenced next month.
“I think Indian Americans around the country should know that if they go to Tahoe and get attacked in a hate crime, the DA’s office is going to do very little to protect them,” asserted Dhillon, who speculated that because Joseph Silva had a heart attack while in court last year, the judge might order no jail time.
Deputy District Attorney Pete O’Hara had not returned calls for comment at press time.
Wadhwa joined Citi last year, after a four-year stint with Wells Fargo Private Bank. Previously, he was with Bank of America Private Bank and began his career with JP Morgan Chase.
Click the following link for more information concerning Dhillon's positions.
