A 21 year old man was arrested for allegedly beating a Barista from a local Los Angeles restaurant. The twist here is that the severely beaten victim was said to be a transgender individual who was the target of a hate crime. Nicol Shakhnazaryan was said to be one of your young men who perpetrated this crime.
The three other suspects are still at large even after a large reward was said to be offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of these suspects. Nicol was picked out of a surveillance video tape taken near the location of the incident.
The victim is said to be recovering from her injuries at a local hospital. Vivian Diego, age 22 was said to have suffered multiple contusions and fractured rips in the seemingly unprovoked battery on Diego who was headed home from work at the time of the incident.
Los Angeles Police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation are working on the case together and are treating the case as a hate crime. As a hate crime the incident could be prosecuted as a federal or state case and the punishment upon conviction is much more severe than for that of a simple battery under state law.
If you have questions about assault, battery, hate crimes or any other criminal law matter, call me, Jeffrey Vallens (818) 783-5700 or (888) 764-4340 or email me at: vallenslaw@yahoo.com or www.4criminaldefense.com or www.westlakecriminaldefense.com