Gay Mobile Alabama woman beaten senseless by Travis Hawkins, brother of her girlfriend on Thanksgiving; 66,000 sign petition to escalate charges

Omahans will recognize WPMI 15's anchor, who introduced the story, as former KMTV anchor Greg Peterson who left Nebraska for Mobile, AL in 2007.



Prosecutors in Mobile chose to charge Travis Hawkins with second degree assault rather than attempted murder.
     They say they could not bring first degree assault charges because Hawkins did not use a deadly weapon.
     No hate crime charges were brought because Alabama is one of 26 states without hate crime statutes covering LGBT people.
     Second degree assault in Alabama is a class C felony. First degree assault is a class B felony. Attempted murder is a class A felony.
     Here are the penalties for those crimes, from the Alabama statutes:

(1) For a Class A felony, for life or not more than 99 years or less than 10 years.
(2) For a Class B felony, not more than 20 years or less than 2 years.
(3) For a Class C felony, not more than 10 years or less than 1 year and 1 day.

Here is Hawkins, in pictures on his facebook page: