D.C. man found guilty of assault — but not guilty of hate crime
A D.C. Superior Court jury on Feb. 27 found a 42-year-old District man charged with a May 2022 assault against a gay man while shouting anti-gay slurs guilty of assault causing significant bodily injury but not guilty of committing a hate crime.
Court charging documents show that Anthony Duncan allegedly punched the male victim in the face and head, breaking the victim’s nose and breaking three of the victim’s teeth, after the two men crossed paths while walking along 15th Street, N.W.
at the intersection of V Street at about 4:50 p.m. on Saturday, May 21, 2022. An arrest affidavit filed in court by police and prosecutors says Duncan remained on the scene after the victim called police on his cell phone.
It says Duncan attempted to blame the victim for instigating a fight. The affidavit says Duncan told police officers who arrived on the scene that while he walked past the victim the victim “grabbed his nuts at me,” which police interpreted to mean he accused the victim of making a sexual gesture toward him. “Defendant 1 stated that when he confronted Victim 1 over ‘grabbing his nuts’ that Victim 1 turned around and swung on him unprovoked but missed.
