Ohio Man Sentenced to Prison for 30 Months for Hate Crime

Izmir Koch, 34, of Huber Heights, Ohio, was sentenced today to 30 months in prison for beating a man he believed to be Jewish outside of a Cincinnati restaurant.

Assistant Attorney General Eric Dreiband for the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division; Benjamin C. Glassman, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio; and Todd A. Wickerham, Special Agent in Charge, FBI Cincinnati Division, announced the sentence.

Koch was convicted after a trial on Dec. 17, 2018, of one count of violating the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr., Hate Crimes Prevention Act and one count of making a false statement to the FBI.

On Feb. 4, 2017, the Defendant and his companions were heard yelling “I want to kill all of the Jews” and “I want to stab the Jews” outside a Cincinnati restaurant. The victim represented to Koch that he was Jewish, after which Koch began punching and kicking him. A number of other people joined in the assault. The victim was left with a broken facial bone and bruised ribs. The victim was not in fact Jewish, but was with friends and family members who were.

Read more: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/ohio-man-sentenced-prison-30-months-hate-crime