Oregon man sentenced for LGBTQ+ hate crimes in Idaho, including trying to hit people with car

Also: Oregon Man Sentenced for Committing Anti-LGBTQI+ Assaults (U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Idaho)

_________________________________________________

Source: Associated Press

Oregon man sentenced for LGBTQ+ hate crimes in Idaho, including trying to hit people with car

Updated 7:44 PM EDT, November 2, 2023

BOISE, Idaho. (AP) — An Oregon man who pleaded guilty in connection with LGBTQ+ hate crimes, including trying to hit people with a car in Idaho last year, has been sentenced to just over three years in prison.

Matthew Lehigh was sentenced Thursday to 37 months followed by three years of supervised release and he must pay restitution, according to the U.S. Justice Department. Lehigh, 32, previously pleaded guilty to two felony charges of violating the Hate Crimes Prevention Act as part of a plea agreement.

Last October, Lehigh punched and threatened a transgender librarian in Boise before trying to run over a library security guard with his vehicle, according to court documents.

Days later, he saw two women he “assumed, based on their appearance and dress” were lesbians, documents said. Lehigh shouted threats and slurs at them and accelerated his car toward them. The women jumped out of the way and Lehigh’s vehicle hit the car belonging to one of the women, documents said.

-snip-

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/crimes-against-lgbtq-sentence-boise-idaho-b6fceaaecf2bf30531a7202551f81c1a

_________________________________________________

Source: U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Idaho

Oregon Man Sentenced for Committing Anti-LGBTQI+ Assaults

Thursday, November 2, 2023
For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Idaho

BOISE – An Oregon man was sentenced today to 37 months in federal prison and three years of supervised release for attempting to run over three people with a car as part of a week-long crime spree targeting the LGBTQI+ community around Boise, Idaho, in October 2022.

According to court records, on Oct. 8, 2022, while at the Boise Public Library Main Branch in downtown Boise, Matthew Alan Lehigh, 31, approached a transgender library employee, called her a slur, punched her, and threatened to stab her. A member of the library’s security staff intervened, and Lehigh fled into the parking lot. When the security guard attempted to speak to Lehigh in the parking lot, Lehigh got into a car and suddenly accelerated it toward the guard, intending to collide with him. The guard narrowly escaped being struck by jumping behind a concrete barricade at the last moment, and Lehigh fled the scene.

Four days later, while sitting in his car in a public parking lot elsewhere in Boise, Lehigh saw two women walking together towards another vehicle. Assuming that the women were lesbians, Lehigh began shouting threats and slurs at them, then suddenly accelerated his car toward the women, intending to collide with them. The women jumped out of the path of Lehigh’s oncoming car, which struck the other vehicle at significant speed.

“The defendant’s crime spree not only endangered and terrified his victims but damaged an entire community’s sense of safety in their city,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “We recognize the very real threats and acts of violence faced by the LGBTQI+ community and are determined to use every tool available to preserve the life, safety and dignity of this community. Nobody should live in fear that their identity will make them a target of random, senseless violence while going about their daily lives. The Justice Department will continue to vigorously prosecute those who commit unlawful acts of hate-fueled anti-LGBTQI+ violence while seeking justice for the victims.”

-snip-

On June 15, 2022, Lehigh pleaded guilty to one felony count of violating the Hate Crimes Prevention Act for the vehicular assault on the library security guard, and a second felony violation for the vehicular assault on the two women.

As part of his plea agreement, Lehigh also admitted that he was responsible for three other instances of anti-LGBTQI+ vandalism and violence that occurred in Boise during early October 2022. Specifically, he admitted to setting fire to a rainbow-striped “pride” flag attached to a residential property in North Boise, breaking several windows at a commercial building jointly occupied by an LGBTQI+ community organization and an LGBTQI+-affirming religious congregation and punching a grocery store customer after calling him an anti-LGBTQI+ slur.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.justice.gov/usao-id/pr/oregon-man-sentenced-committing-anti-lgbtqi-assaults