Definitely a hate crime

I am not a big proponent of the death penalty, but when I hear about crimes such as the recent kidnapping, rape and torture of a young black woman in West Virginia, it becomes that much harder to make a valid argument about the value of rehabilitation over capital punishment.

For the story, go here:
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5idxqh511E5lHfNvljI2sQ1H52W7g

The thing I find most amazing about this story is how investigators are "thinking" about prosecuting this terrible incident as a hate crime. Hello! You don’t have to be a Harvard law professor to figure out this definitely fits the definition of a hate crime.

If these suspects indeed did commit the crime they are accused of, they should at the very least spend the rest of their lives in jail. There is no way that someone who commits a crime like this should ever be allowed to walk freely in a civilized society again