Idaho police investigate death threat as hate crime

Boise, Idaho, police are investigating an alleged hate crime after a death threat was made to a Boise State University student because of the student's sexual orientation. The police didn't release the student's gender or details about the contents of the letter, but they say that graffiti found on campus in April 2004 targeted the same individual. Police were called to an office in the university's Student Union Building on Monday after a woman found an unaddressed letter on the keyboard of her computer. "She was not the intended victim but recognizes who the letter made reference to," according to a Boise police statement. Police say they've informed the victim of the contents of the letter. Police are investigating the letter as a misdemeanor assault. This incident falls under department policy to investigate it as a hate-bias crime, which requires police to inform the Ada County Human Rights Task Force. (AP)