First Hate Crime Conviction in Ky. County

A Kentucky judge said an attack against two lesbians and two men last year outside a Covington club constituted a hate crime, the first such conviction of its kind in Kenton County.

KyPost.com reports on the conviction of Devlin Burke, 31, who with three other men yelled antigay slurs at the women exiting the Yadda Club last August. When bystanders tried to intervene, Burke attacked them with a blade, for which he was convicted of felony assault. The upgrade to hate-crime charges means that he could be forced to serve his entire sentence 17-year sentence with no prospect of early release.

County attorney Rob Sanders told KyPost.com, "This is the first official hate crime that we have had under Kentucky law in Kenton County."

Kim Hill, Burke's mother, said that she had been gay "for 20 years," and that her son was raised by two women, so she believed he could not possibly feel hate toward lesbians.