DEARBORN — Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy criticized Michigan’s ethnic intimidation law, saying it makes it difficult to charge and convict people of hate crimes.

Worthy met with The Arab American News staff and community leaders at the newspaper’s office on Monday to discuss concerns, including civil rights and public safety.

“Our ethnic intimidation statutes need to change; they’re very poorly written,” she said. “It’s almost impossible to prove (guilt) the way they’re written.”

Worthy cited KKK-style cross burnings in Taylor a few years ago, where the county could not prosecute the perpetrators on racial bias charges because of the letter of the law.

“Even when it seems to be obvious, it is very hard to prove ethnic intimidation because of the way the statute is written,” she said. “And the intent needs to be shown.”

Worthy said her office is working to change the ethnic intimidation and terrorism statutes. She is consulting with state and federal officials to amend the law.

After the Paris attack last year, Grand Rapids resident Sarah Beebe made an online threat to Dearborn’s Muslim community.

“Dearborn, MI, has the highest Muslim population in the United States. Let’s f**k that place up and send a message to ISIS. We’re coming,” Beebe wrote in a tweet that went viral.

Worthy said she was unable to press charges against Beebe because the statute only refers to specific threats.

“A person is guilty of ethnic intimidation if that person maliciously, and with specific intent”, intimidates others because of their “race, color, religion, gender or national origin,” the law reads.

The statute lists physical harm, destruction of property or threats of violence motivated by hate as ethnic intimidation offenses.

Intent refers to the mindset of the perpetrators before and during the commission of a crime. Specific intent offenses are harder to prove.

Hugh M. Davis, a Detroit-based civil rights attorney, explained that convicting a suspect of a specific intent crime would require convincing the jury beyond a reasonable doubt that the perpetrator had motives and plans to commit the offense before carrying it out — that the crime was not committed in a state of momentary rage.

For example first degree murder is a specific intent crime because it has to be premeditated, Davis added.

“Specific intent statute are statutes where you have to intend to commit the crime, and intend to commit it generally before you do it,” the attorney said.

We asked the prosecutor if the federal government had requested help from her office to watch over the Arab and Muslim communities in the county. 

“I am not involved in anything like that,” Worthy said. “I am not aware of anything like that. That would really concern me if there is something like that happening.”

Worthy said profiling always worries her.

“It doesn’t mean it’s not happening,” she added.

As for the two fatal shootings by police in Dearborn, Worthy said her office is following both investigations. 

Kevin Matthew, 35, an unarmed Black man, was fatally shot by a Dearborn police officer on Dec. 23. About a month later, Janet Wilson, 31, a Black woman, was also killed by a Dearborn officer, following a chase.

Worthy said the probes are taking so long because the county thoroughly reinvestigates such cases because the police cannot investigate themselves.

“We don’t just get an answer; we want to get it right,” she said. “We know that police cases, no matter how egregious they may seem, are very hard to prove and very, very hard to get juries to convict.”

Wilson’s death is being investigated by the Michigan State Police. But almost immediately after the incident, a State Police spokesperson made statements that seemed to favor the Dearborn officers’ account.

State Police Lt. Mike Shaw said Wilson was armed with her car.

“I think a lot of people say, well, she didn’t have any type of gun or anything like that, so why would you do that? She had a 3,000-pound weapon called a vehicle,” Shaw said on Jan. 28.

Worthy dismissed the comments.

“We don’t go by anything that anybody says in the media.”