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Wisconsin Teens Charged With Hate Crime Against Christian

By Jim Brown

(AgapePress) - Three Wisconsin teens have been charged with a hate crime against a Christian in what is believed to be the first case of its kind under state law.

The (Appleton) Post-Crescent reports 18-year-old Daniel Lewis faces trial next month for allegedly spraying a man in the face with mace and yelling, "Satan rules, Jesus will not prevail."

According to the criminal complaint, the three stopped at a house with a sign in the yard asking, "Got Jesus?" Lewis then told the others he would pepper-spray the occupant because he was "sick of all the Christian religious talk and how he was raised by his parents." When a man answered the door at the home, he was sprayed in the face. Lewis also yelled at him: "Jesus is a fag."

One of Lewis' accomplices was placed on probation last month. He was given the option of reducing his jail sentence from 15 days to 7 if he wore a sign stating, "I'm convicted of a hate crime against a Christian." The 17-year-old wore the sign on an Appleton street for five hours.

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