District Attorney’s Office says suspects in brutal Oak Lawn robbery already facing maximum possible sentence of 5 to 99 years in prison

Bank account set up to help victim An account has been established to help defray the medical expenses of Jimmy Lee Dean, who was the victim of an anti-gay hate crime in Oak Lawn on July 17. The account is at First Convenience Bank, which has a branch in the Kroger store at 4142 Cedar Springs Road. The account name is “In Benefit of Jimmy Lee Dean.” The account number is 461393555. The routing number is 111906271.

The victim of a brutal July 17 robbery in Oak Lawn says he’s disappointed that his alleged attackers won’t be prosecuted for anti-gay hate crimes.

But 42-year-old Jimmy Lee Dean added that he understands the reasons behind the decision announced last week by the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office.

“It kind of bugs me,” Dean said. “[But] as long as they don’t let these guys out, that’s what I’m worried about, because I don’t want to see this happen to anybody else.”

Kevin Brooks, felony trial bureau chief for the DA’s Office, confirmed this week that prosecutors won’t file hate crimes enhancements against 29-year-old Bobby Jack Singleton and 31-year-old Jonathan Russell Gunter, the two Garland men accused of robbing and beating Dean.

According to a witness, Singleton and Gunter yelled anti-gay epithets during the attack, and authorities say the suspects later admitted robbing Dean because they thought a gay man would make an easier target.

The Dallas Police Department has classified the case as an anti-gay hate crime for statistical reporting purposes, but Brooks said prosecutors have nothing to gain by filing hate crimes enhancements.

Singleton and Gunter are charged with aggravated robbery, a first-degree felony punishable by five to 99 years in prison. Under Texas’ hate crimes statute, the potential punishment can’t be increased, even if a jury were to determine that the robbery was a hate crime.

“They’re already charged with the highest offense that we could charge them with and they’re already facing the maximum punishment we could seek if we get a conviction,” Brooks said.

The risk of prosecuting the cases as hate crimes, Brooks said, is that if the jury decides prosecutors haven’t proved the robbery was motivated by anti-gay bias, the sentences could be reduced.

“It might jeopardize our chance of getting the maximum punishment,” Brooks said. “The thought process from my end is, why jeopardize your opportunity to get the maximum punishment if you don’t have to?”

Brooks acknowledged that it’s important to send a message that hate won’t be tolerated, but he feels this can be accomplished anyway.

“You can still bring up the other aspects of the case even though it’s not in the indictment,” Brooks said.

“With these particular individuals, if they’re convicted, we can still get that same message out.”

Brooks said he isn’t surprised that there have been only nine hate crimes prosecutions statewide since Texas’ current statute was passed in 2001.

“I can see why there aren’t a whole lot of filings, because our job is to get those individuals off the street and try to get them locked up for as long as possible,” he said.

Jamille Bradfield, a spokeswoman for the DA’s Office, said she’s received phone calls from citizens questioning why the cases won’t be prosecuted as hate crimes.

Jimmy Lee Dean, shown playing his guitar at home recently, spent more than a week in the hosptial after the attack.

But a representative from Equality Texas, the statewide gay-rights group, said people shouldn’t blame the DA’s Office. Equality Texas has been pushing for the state Legislature to fund a comprehensive study of the hate crimes statute, to determine what factors may be limiting its use.

“We certainly can’t disagree with the prosecution that there’s no reason to charge it as a hate crime, because you don’t get any more mileage out of it,” said Randall Terrell, Equality Texas’ legislative director. “The last thing you want to do is endanger a prosecution on something like this.

“What we all need to hope for now and expect them to do is to aggressively prosecute and secure a conviction on this,” Terrell added. “What I would not like to see is a plea bargain to something below a first-degree felony.”