A jury this week acquitted a man accused of shouting racist slurs and breaking the jaw of an Asian man in Florida.
NBC News reports the jury found Allan Chandler Muller III not guilty in the 2020 beating of John Mealor that included a hate crime charge.
“As the victim and witness walked away, the defendant called the victim a ‘cross eyed g—,’” the police report said, using a racial slur popularized during war time. “The victim continued to walk away from the boat, and then heard the defendant call him a ‘lazy eyed g—.’”
Mealor is blind in one eye. ABC3 also reports police also accused Muller of knocking Mealor unconscious after punching him in the face. One witness also said the defendant kicked Mealor “soccer style” after he had already been rendered unconscious.
However, the defense during closing arguments told the jury that the prosecution lacked any video evidence of the crime. The jury acquitted Muller citing what they believed to be a lack of evidence.
The Florida Daily News citing the police report say the injuries to Mealor are likely to cause “permanent disfigurement.”
“The difficulty is when all the public knows is the name of the charge and the sensationalism that goes along with it,” defense attorney Shawn Lupella said in an email. “We knew that this was not a hate crime and we knew our client was not racist.”
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Not surprised. This happened in the Redneck Riviera and the jury was probably all white and male.