Hate-Crime Victim Wants Law Changed

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. —  With three teenagers arrested for their alleged roles in putting a noose around the neck of a 14-year-old black high school student, the victim said Thursday that parents should share responsibility for hate crimes their children commit.

Dionte Hall and his parents called a news conference to urge prosecution of his attackers and called for legislation to hold parents responsible for instilling prejudice in children that results in violence.

Police say a girl offered Louis J. Giannola $10 to put the noose around Hall’s neck Jan. 14 at a fast-food restaurant north of St. Petersburg. Giannola, 19, also voiced a racial slur, police said.

Hall said he remained calm, returned to school and discussed the matter with staffers there. His father, Christopher Hall, said he is proud of his son.

“I think I realized how strong he is,” Christopher Hall said. “I can’t tell how I would have reacted.”

Giannola, of Zephyrhills, was released from jail Sunday on $10,000 bond on a felony hate crime charge and another $250 on an unrelated charge.

Two others charged -- the girl accused of offering the money and another teen accused of tying the noose -- were not identified because they are minors.

The teens told police it was a joke.

Hall said in a letter to President Bush that his life since the incident has been “crazy and confusing.”

“I think about what happened, and it reminds me of what happened to the African-American man in Texas, who was dragged ... to his death behind a truck,” he wrote.

The Hall family’s attorney, Grady C. Irvin Jr., advocated making parents culpable if they instill intolerance in children who go on to commit hate crimes, but didn’t discuss how such a law would be enforced.

Giannola’s mother, Dee Giannola, has said her son probably just made a bad decision.

“We are not a prejudiced family by any means,” she told the St. Petersburg Times.