Utah Man Facing Hate Crime Charges Says Threatening Black Child Was 'Just My Opinion'
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A Utah man is now for threatening to kill a black child of a neighboring Caucasian couple. Robert Keller, a 70-year-old resident of Hurricane, wrote to the family to say he would kill the boy if the child remained in his neighborhood.
Keller that he didn鈥檛 mean anything by it, 鈥淎ll I wanted to do was open their eyes.鈥� 鈥淭o me, it鈥檚 not a threat, it鈥檚 my opinion, which I should be allowed to,鈥� he said, trailing off, before concluding with, 鈥淥f course, I wrote it down, which was a mistake.鈥�
What Keller wrote down, in a letter to the family last December, was a direct threat. His hate-filled letter 鈥� which concluded with 鈥淕et this n----- out!鈥� 鈥� explicitly warned the parents that he would kill either the boy or the parents if they did not remove him from the neighborhood.
By Keller鈥檚 own description the letter read, 鈥淚f it was my daughter 鈥� I think I wrote that I鈥檇 slice his throat or something like that.鈥�
Keller told KUTV that he was inspired to write the letter out of fear that the boy might try to date white girls. 鈥淚 just said, 鈥榃hat鈥檚 gonna happen later on down the road, when this black kid starts chasing these girls? Which I鈥檝e seen,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 what set me off. I saw him walking down the street with a white gal.鈥�
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The property manager at the neighborhood where both Keller and the family live was shocked when she read the letter. Tenille Ewing told reporters that the letter 鈥渕ade threats against life," adding: 鈥淚t hit home, because it's my ethnic background.鈥� 鈥淚t was very shocking to me that people still have that much hate, nowadays,鈥� she said.
Keller was originally charged with interfering with a right to fair housing, a federal offense, in December. But the to include federal hate crime charges:
The first count alleges that听 Keller鈥檚 threats interfered with the housing rights of the Caucasian residents to associate in their home with their African-American family member, and the second count alleges that Keller鈥檚 threats interfered with the African-American resident鈥檚 right to occupy the home.
According to the DOJ, Keller faces 鈥渁 statutory maximum penalty of one year in prison on each count鈥� if convicted.
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