NEWS FLASH

First-Ever Anti-Gay Federal Hate Crime Charges End In Acquittal | The first ever prosecution of anti-gay violence under the federal hate crimes statute has resulted in an acquittal. Two Kentucky cousins, Anthony Ray Jenkins and David Jason Jenkins, were charged with attacking 29-year-old Kevin Pennington in a rural state park. It’s unclear why the jury rejected the hate crime charge, particularly considering the their two accomplices, Alexis Leeann Jenkins and Mable Ashley Jenkins, pleaded guilty to them. The men’s lawyers argued they were either too drunk or too unintelligent to formulate a plan against Pennington, but on his 911 call, Pennington said, “They’re trying to kill me… I think it’s because I’m gay.”