Suskauer asked Clausi and defense attorney Robert Pasch to find a group that would be willing to work with Jerich. “They don’t want the defendant anywhere near our organization or our missions,” Hoch said. Rand Hoch, president of the Human Rights Council, told Suskauer that none of the groups he deals with are interested in having Jerich as a volunteer. “I don’t want to do that to a young man who has his whole life ahead of him,” Suskauer said.įurther, he said, he wants Jerich to perform community service for an organization that serves the LGBTQ community. Convicted felons' job prospects are grim, he said. To keep Jerich from living with the stigma of being a convicted felon, Suskauer said he planned to withhold adjudication on the charge of criminal mischief. Suskauer also said he had little desire to turn Jerich into a convicted felon for making an impetuous decision when he joined 30 cars that paraded through Delray Beach as part of a “President Trump Birthday Rally” that was organized by the county Republican Party. Assistant State Attorney Richard Clausi suggested a 30-day sentence, an option Suskauer indicated he would consider. He voiced little interest in putting Jerich behind bars for a year. While Suskauer didn’t formally pronounce a sentence, he offered strong hints about what he would and wouldn’t do. “I want your own brief summary of why people are so hateful and why people lash out against the gay community,” he said. In addition to researching the backgrounds of the 49 people who died and the loved ones they left behind, Suskauer told Jerich to offer his own views about why such tragedies occur. View Gallery: Pride Intersection dedicated in Delray Beach
Noting that Jerich seemed to have little understanding of the meaning of the rainbow-colored gay pride mural he defaced or the struggles of the LGBTQ community, he ordered him to write a 25-page essay on the 2016 massacre at Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando. But in the meantime, he gave Jerich a homework assignment. He ordered Jerich to return to court on June 8 to learn his fate. With the founder and president of the Palm Beach County Human Rights Council pushing for a year-long sentence, Suskauer said he needed more time to decide an appropriate punishment. “This is not the person I was expecting,” Suskauer said. “I was just trying to fit in and be accepted.”įaced with a young man his attorney compared with Lennie, the mentally disabled man-child in the novel “Of Mice and Men,” Suskauer said he had to reconsider his assumptions about Jerich, who in March pleaded guilty to criminal mischief and reckless driving in connection with the June incident. “I’ve had problems in the past with fitting in,” Jerich said.
When the tall, husky young man finally composed himself, he apologized for his actions but offered no real explanation for them. Nation: Three people accused of beating gay man and blinding him charged with hate crimesĮducation: 'It's Okay to Be a Unicorn' author said school nixed his reading to students over 'gay agenda' fears