Racially motivated East Boston crime garners probation sentence; civil rights group laments leniency
"To be in the room when the court failed to denounce this level of violence and hatred made me fear for the security of my community."
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A local civil rights organization on Wednesday decried the plea deal struck by prosecutors and a white woman accused of assaulting a Hispanic woman and her teen daughter, saying 15 months probation was too lenient for what the group described as a hate crime.
At issue is a Feb. 15, 2020, incident where a mother and daughter were attacked in East Boston while speaking Spanish and allegedly told, “This is America” and “Go back to your [expletive] country.” On Friday, prosecutors announced a plea deal in which one of the two white women charged in the attack, Jenny Leigh Ennamorati, will serve 15 months probation. The other woman charged, Stephanie Armstrong, continues to fight in court.
“The court met racism and bigotry with leniency and tolerance,” Lawyers for Civil Rights, an organization supporting the victims, said in a statement Wednesday. The criticism of the sentence comes at a time when hate crimes are up in Massachusetts.
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