Judge OKs 10 Separate Counts in Hate E-Mail Case

SANTA ANA — U.S. District Judge Alicemarie H. Stotler ruled Friday that prosecutors can charge a former UC Irvine student with committing 10 separate crimes for allegedly sending an anonymous computer message threatening to “hunt . . . down and kill” Asian Americans on campus.

But the judge delayed ruling on the legality of prosecutors charging the defendant, Richard Machado, 19, of Los Angeles, under the terms of a civil rights-era statute.

The case is the first federal prosecution of an alleged hate crime committed on a computer network.

Stotler asked attorneys to provide additional arguments on whether the law that Congress passed in 1968 to overcome obstacles to school desegregation, especially in the South, applies to private individuals as well as state officials.

Machado’s attorney, Deputy Federal Public Defender Sylvia Torres-Guillen, has contended that the law was meant to regulate state officials, not private citizens.

Assistant U.S. Atty. Michael J. Gennaco said in court Friday that the statute being challenged has been upheld in many cases.

Torres-Guillen has also argued that the 10 charges against her client are redundant because they involve a single e-mail message Machado sent Sept. 20, 1996.

But Stotler ruled that prosecutors can proceed with the 10 charges. If convicted, Machado faces up to 10 years in prison.

In court Friday, a bailiff who was asked to remove Machado’s handcuffs before the hearing told Stotler that the defendant was “emotionally unstable” and was receiving medication for his condition at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles.

The judge asked attorneys to file additional arguments in the case by Sept. 22. She also set the trial date for Oct. 15.