Photo: Citrus County Sheriff's Office
A Florida man is facing prison time for a "brutal," racially-motivated attack on a Black shopper, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Robert Lashley, 52, pleaded guilty to federal hate crime charges on October 4. According to court documents, Lashley followed a Black man into the parking lot of a dollar store in Citrus Springs on November 17, 2021. Lashley struck the man multiple times with his fists, while his co-defendant Roy Lamar Lashley used an ax handle to beat up the victim, per The Macon Telegraph.
Both suspects hurled racial slurs at the Black man during the attack, sending him to the hospital with several injuries to his face and legs, "including a laceration to the inside of his mouth," federal officials wrote.
The plea agreement states that the men talked about assaulting the Black man inside the store for pushing Roy Lamar Lashley, even though surveillance footage didn't show the victim making any physical contact with him, per the newspaper. Both Lashley and Roy Lamar admitted to targeting the man over his skin color. It isn't clear if they're related.
The Citrus County Sheriff's Office arrested the suspects. According to an indictment unsealed in June, they were charged with each aiding and abetting one another, with willfully causing bodily injury to the victim because of the victim’s actual and perceived race.
Lashley faces up to 10 years in federal prison, three years of mandatory supervised release, and a $250,000 fine. His sentencing hearing hasn't been scheduled yet. The case against Roy Lamar Lashley is ongoing, the DOJ said.
“The defendant is being held accountable for subjecting a Black man to a brutal and racially-motivated assault,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division in the press release. “Convictions like these make clear that the Department of Justice will continue to investigate and prosecute individuals who violently assault others because of their race. Racially-motivated hate crimes have no place in our society.”
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