A white motorist has been sentenced to two years in prison after being convicted of a racially motivated crime. The aggressor had no idea the African-American man was a mixed martial artist, and subsequently detained him by placing him in a chokehold until authorities came to arrest him for attempting to intimidate and injure his family.
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On Monday, Nov. 7, the Department of Justice announced Jordan Patrick Leahy, 29, would be sentenced to two years in prison and three years in supervised release after attacking a man, known only by the initials J.T., and his family in Seminole, Florida, on Sunday, Aug. 8, 2021.
The sentencing comes a few months after his federal conviction.
The FBI Tampa Field Office, the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office and the Florida Highway Patrol worked on the case with Assistant U.S. Attorney Carlton Gammons and trial attorneys David Reese and Laura-Kate Bernstein of the Civil Rights Division.
The Black man was driving on a public road when the assault attempt transpired.
According to the government agency’s new release, federal judge Paul Huck from the Middle District of Florida, passed down the sentence, saying the man “willfully” intimidated and interfered with J.T. and his family during the altercation.
The DOJ also stated, Leahy tried to “intimidate and interfere with J.T. through the use of a dangerous weapon (Leahy’s vehicle), because of J.T.’s race and color, and because J.T. was traveling on a public roadway in Seminole, Florida.”
The DOJ stated during the trial the government introduced evidence, detailing what happened that day.
“Leahy, while driving, came upon J.T. driving on a public road, [and] shouted racial slurs at J.T.,” the release shares, before noting he “attempted to force J.T.’s car off the road.”
In an effort to defend himself and his family, J.T., who had his girlfriend and 4-year-old daughter in the car at the time, used his training as a martial artist to stop Leahy in his tracks until authorities arrived.
When deputies from the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office arrived on the scene, Leahy reportedly was still upset, making comments that substantiated race as a motive for his harassment. One of the statements included telling law enforcement Black people needed to be confined “in their areas.”
A sentencing memorandum submitted by the prosecution stated, “After being arrested by law enforcement, and while waiting to be transported in the back of a patrol vehicle, the defendant was asked about the incident. He responded, ‘I just remember throwing up the Nazi salute and trying to pick a fight with some random-ass fucking colored people, bro, that’s all I remember.’”
