The 2006 Harris County, Texas hate crime assault was the

beating Beat, beats or beating may refer to: Common uses * Patrol, or beat, a group of personnel assigned to monitor a specific area ** Beat (police), the territory that a police officer patrols ** Gay beat, an area frequented by gay men * Battery ...

torture Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons such as punishment, extracting a confession, interrogation for information, or intimidating third parties. Some definitions are restricted to acts c ...

, and

sexual assault Sexual assault is an act in which one intentionally sexually touches another person without that person's consent, or coerces or physically forces a person to engage in a sexual act against their will. It is a form of sexual violence, which ...

of a Latino student, by two white youths during the early morning of April 22, 2006, in an unincorporated section of Harris County, Texas, United States in

Greater Houston Greater Houston, designated by the United States Office of Management and Budget as Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land, is the fifth-most populous metropolitan statistical area in the United States, encompassing nine counties along the Gulf Co ...

. The details of the attack led to the publication of the story in various media outlets in and outside the United States. The victim of the assault, whose identity was not made public until months after the attack, committed suicide a year after the incident.

The assault

The incident occurred at a residence located north of the city of

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

, with a

Spring, Texas Spring is a census-designated place (CDP) within the extraterritorial jurisdiction of Houston in Harris County, Texas, United States, part of the metropolitan area. The population was 62,559 at the 2020 census. While the name "Spring" is popul ...

address,Boy, 16, Near Death After Sexual Assault, Beating
." ''Click2Houston'', April 28, 2006. Retrieved on July 22, 2010. "David Tuck, 18, and Keith Turner, 17, were outside a house party in the 21000 block of Glen Branch in Spring when they attacked the 16-year-old on Saturday at about 11:30 pm, according to investigators." (the addresses are stated to establish the precise location of the crime in unincorporated Harris County) at a party held at the Sons family home. Two

Klein Collins High School Klein Collins High School is a public high school located at 20811 Ella Boulevard in unincorporated Harris County, Texas, United States. The school, with a Spring, Texas postal address but outside of the Spring census-designated place, serves stu ...

students, David Henry Tuck, then 18, and Keith Robert Turner, then 17, beat, tortured and

sodomized Sodomy () or buggery (British English) is generally Anal sex, anal or oral sex between people, or Human sexual activity, sexual activity between a person and a non-human animal (Zoophilia, bestiality), but it may also mean any non-Reproduction, ...

David Ritcheson, a 16-year-old fellow Klein Collins student and former

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offen ...

for the school's

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

team.Glenn, Mike, Peggy O'Hare, Zeke Minaya, and Kimberley Stauffer.
Details of brutal beating revealed
" ''

Houston Chronicle The ''Houston Chronicle'' is the largest daily newspaper in Houston, Texas, United States. , it is the third-largest newspaper by Sunday circulation in the United States, behind only ''The New York Times'' and the ''Los Angeles Times''. With it ...

''. Friday April 28, 2006. A1. Retrieved on January 19, 2010.Hewitt, Paige and Bill Murphy.
Moving on, and trying to shed 'victim' label
" ''

''. April 17, 2007. Retrieved on January 19, 2010. Tuck and Turner, who were both under the influence of

recreational drug Recreational drug use indicates the use of one or more psychoactive drugs to induce an altered state of consciousness either for pleasure or for some other casual purpose or pastime by modifying the perceptions and emotions of the user. When a ...

s, said they were told that Ritcheson, also under the influence of drugs, tried to kiss 12-year-old Danielle Sons. Sons' statement threw Tuck into a rage, and Tuck punched Ritcheson. The first punch was so powerful it broke Ritcheson's cheekbone and knocked him unconscious, stated Dr. Red Duke, the emergency physician who treated him.AP
Night of torture leads to lives in prison and pain
''

The Dallas Morning News ''The Dallas Morning News'' is a daily newspaper serving the Dallas–Fort Worth area of Texas, with an average print circulation of 65,369. It was founded on October 1, 1885 by Alfred Horatio Belo as a satellite publication of the ''Galvesto ...

'', December 31, 2006 Tuck and Turner dragged Ritcheson outside, stripped him naked, burned him with cigarettes, and attempted to engrave a

swastika The swastika (卐 or 卍) is an ancient religious and cultural symbol, predominantly in various Eurasian, as well as some African and American cultures, now also widely recognized for its appropriation by the Nazi Party and by neo-Nazis. It ...

into Ritcheson's chest. Tuck kicked Ritcheson with steel-toed boots and forced the pointed end of a PVC

patio A patio (, from es, patio ; "courtyard", "forecourt", "yard", "little garden") is an outdoor space generally used for dining or recreation that adjoins a structure and is typically paved. In Australia the term is expanded to include roofed stru ...

umbrella An umbrella or parasol is a folding canopy supported by wooden or metal ribs that is usually mounted on a wooden, metal, or plastic pole. It is designed to protect a person against rain or sunlight. The term ''umbrella'' is traditionally used ...

pole up his

rectum The rectum is the final straight portion of the large intestine in humans and some other mammals, and the Gastrointestinal tract, gut in others. The adult human rectum is about long, and begins at the rectosigmoid junction (the end of the s ...

several inches while yelling racial slurs. After the

sodomy Sodomy () or buggery (British English) is generally anal or oral sex between people, or sexual activity between a person and a non-human animal ( bestiality), but it may also mean any non- procreative sexual activity. Originally, the term ''sodo ...

ended, the perpetrators poured

bleach Bleach is the generic name for any chemical product that is used industrially or domestically to remove color (whitening) from a fabric or fiber or to clean or to remove stains in a process called bleaching. It often refers specifically, to ...

on the victim's body to conceal the evidence of the crime. The attack lasted five hours. Ritcheson was left lying behind the house for more than 10 hours before he was found and an ambulance was called. Ritcheson suffered from extensive injuries including a

perforated A perforation is a small hole in a thin material or web. There is usually more than one perforation in an organized fashion, where all of the holes collectively are called a ''perforation''. The process of creating perforations is called perfor ...

bladder The urinary bladder, or simply bladder, is a hollow organ in humans and other vertebrates that stores urine from the kidneys before disposal by urination. In humans the bladder is a distensible organ that sits on the pelvic floor. Urine enters ...

. The night after the assault, Ritcheson's lungs failed, and he was placed on a ventilator. According to Harris County prosecutor Mike Trent, the attackers may have poured bleach inside the pipe as high levels of toxins were found in Ritcheson's organs.AP
No hate crime charges after brutal attack
''

NBC News NBC News is the news division of the American broadcast television network NBC. The division operates under NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, a division of NBCUniversal, which is, in turn, a subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's var ...

'', April 28, 2006

Aftermath

Conviction and legal punishment

After being contacted by the

Anti-Defamation League The Anti-Defamation League (ADL), formerly known as the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith, is an international Jewish non-governmental organization based in the United States specializing in civil rights law. It was founded in late Septe ...

(ADL) and agreeing to make his name public, Ritcheson went to Washington, D.C., and on April 17, 2007, testified to the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the Lower house, lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States Senate, Senate being ...

Judiciary Subcommittee about passing more stringent

hate crime A hate crime (also known as a bias-motivated crime or bias crime) is a prejudice-motivated crime which occurs when a perpetrator targets a victim because of their membership (or perceived membership) of a certain social group or racial demograph ...

laws.Murphy, Bill, Paige Hewitt, Jennifer Leahy, and Cynthia Leonor Garza.
Teen victim of Spring pipe attack dies after apparent jump from ship / LULAC official says family told the 18-year-old went overboard on Carnival cruise
" ''

''. Monday July 2, 2007. A1. Retrieved on December 8, 2021. In December 2006, Tuck and Turner were both convicted of

aggravated sexual assault The precise definitions of and punishments for aggravated sexual assault and aggravated rape vary from nation to nation and state to state within nations. Effects on victims Aggravated sexual assault can lead to short- or long-term effects. Ma ...

. Tuck, who was described by prosecutors as a

white supremacist White supremacy or white supremacism is the belief that white people are superior to those of other Race (human classification), races and thus should dominate them. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any Power (social and polit ...

, was sentenced to

life in prison Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed term. Crimes for ...

,AP
Teen gets life for attack on Hispanic boy
''MSNBC'', November 17, 2006 and Turner was sentenced to 90 years. Turner unsuccessfully appealed his conviction to the 14th Court of Appeals for the State of Texas. On March 20, 2008, the Court of Appeals issued its opinion affirming Turner's conviction. Both Tuck and Turner must serve at least 30 years before becoming eligible for parole. Tuck is incarcerated at the

Ramsey Unit The W. F. Ramsey Unit (previously Ramsey I Unit) is a Texas Department of Criminal Justice prison farm located in unincorporated Brazoria County, Texas, with a Rosharon postal address; it is not inside the Rosharon census-designated place. The ...

of the

Texas Department of Criminal Justice The Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) is a department of the government of the U.S. state of Texas. The TDCJ is responsible for statewide criminal justice for adult offenders, including managing offenders in state prisons, state jails, ...

(TDCJ) and has the TDCJ ID 01403389. His parole eligibility date is April 22, 2036. As of 2015 Turner is incarcerated at the

Wallace Pack Unit The Wallace Pack Unit (P1) is a Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) prison in unincorporated Grimes County, Texas, south of Navasota. It is along Farm to Market Road 1227,Houston Chronicle The ''Houston Chronicle'' is the largest daily newspaper in Houston, Texas, United States. , it is the third-largest newspaper by Sunday circulation in the United States, behind only ''The New York Times'' and the ''Los Angeles Times''. With it ...

'', Ritcheson stated:

I shouldn't care what people think. But it's like everyone knows I'm 'the kid'. I don't want to be a standout because of what happened.

Death

On the morning of July 1, 2007, Ritcheson committed suicide by jumping from the deck of the ''

Carnival Ecstasy ''Carnival Ecstasy'' (formerly ''Ecstasy'') was a operated by Carnival Cruise Line. Built by Kværner Masa-Yards at its Helsinki New Shipyard in Helsinki, Finland, she was Float-out, floated out on January 6, 1991, and christened by television ...

'', a

cruise ship Cruise ships are large passenger ships used mainly for vacationing. Unlike ocean liners, which are used for transport, cruise ships typically embark on round-trip voyages to various ports-of-call, where passengers may go on tours known as "s ...

bound for the Mexican resort island of

Cozumel Cozumel (; yua, Kùutsmil) is an island and municipality in the Caribbean Sea off the eastern coast of Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula, opposite Playa del Carmen. It is separated from the mainland by the Cozumel Channel and is close to the Yucatán ...

. Witnesses say that just after sunrise David climbed a mast near the bow of the ship. Crew members and friends thought they had persuaded him but instead he jumped. The ship went back and pulled him from the water then at 9:10 am he was pronounced dead. '' KHOU.com''. Sunday July 1, 2007. Retrieved on January 19, 2010. He was 18 years old. The Ritcheson family's attorney, Carlos Leon, confirmed his death.

References

External links

*
Archive

Heart of Darkness
by Mike Trent (Assistant District Attorney for Harris County, Texas), Texas District and County Attorneys Association, 2007. * – ''

Human Rights Campaign The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) is an American LGBTQ advocacy group. It is the largest LGBTQ political lobbying organization within the United States. Based in Washington, D.C., the organization focuses on protecting and expanding rights for LGB ...

''
Archive
{{DEFAULTSORT:2006 Harris County, Texas Hate Crime Assault Harris County, Texas Hate Crime Assault, 2006 2006 in Texas Crimes in Harris County, Texas Racially motivated violence against Hispanic and Latino Americans History of racism in Texas