Woman pleads guilty to hate crime after stabbing Chinese student in head on Indiana bus

YAHOO!News

Billie Davis, a 58-year-old woman, has pleaded guilty to a hate crime for repeatedly stabbing an 18-year-old Chinese American student on a Bloomington Transit bus in Indiana in 2023. On January 11, 2023, Davis attacked the student, stabbing her in the head seven to ten times with a pocket knife, motivated by the victim's ethnicity. The victim survived but suffered severe wounds that required stitches and staples.

• The headlines determine: Davis admitted that she attacked the student because she was Chinese. Specification that “it would be one less person who could blow up our country.” Davis' lawyers argued that she was mentally incapable for trial, but after receiving the right medication, her condition improved. In January, the judge declared her sane and allowed her to stand trial. Davis is expected to be convicted sentenced to a maximum of six years in prison.

• Increase in hate crimes: This case is part of a broader trend that reports show that Increase of 17% in hate crimes in 25 U.S. cities in 2023. The incident heightened fear within Indiana's Asian American community, with local groups condemning the attack as a product of anti-Asian racism fueled by xenophobic rhetoric spread by Republican leaders like Donald Trump. A study from the Leadership Conference Education Fund shows that hate crimes tend to increase during election periods, and with an eye on the 2024 election, the civil rights group warns of a possible increase in hate incidents.

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