KANSAS CITY, KAN. – The Justice Department announced today that a federal grand jury in Kansas City, Kansas, returned an indictment charging Colton Donner, 25, with threatening an African-American male juvenile, because of the victim’s race and because the victim was living in a home in Paola, Kansas.
For a separate incident, Donner was charged with unlawfully possessing a firearm while being a convicted felon.
The indictment alleges that Donner shouted racial slurs and brandished a knife, a dangerous weapon, at the victim in Paola, Kansas and told the boy he was in a “white town.” The indictment further alleges that Donner, a convicted felon, possessed .44 caliber revolver.
“Our office will protect the federal rights of all people, regardless of race, to live peacefully in Paola or anywhere else in Kansas,” said U.S. Attorney Stephen McAllister. “Freedom of speech does not give anyone license to wield a weapon and threaten others because of race. Racial intimidation must have no place in America and cannot be tolerated or ignored.”
An indictment is merely an allegation, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. Donner faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for both the civil rights and firearm charges.
