The article doesn’t state why this was classified as a hate crime as opposed to just a crime, but if I recall, (haven’t had my second cup of coffee yet) the man believed Kurt Eichenwald was a Jewish man. He’s not, but that was where the hate part of the charge comes in I believe…
ETA: On second thought it could be as a result of having a disability from epilepsy. Not sure which actually. I remember an earlier interview where he said some twitter trolls were calling him out as being Jewish, and he said he laughed at that knowing they were targeting him over something that wasn’t true, but either way its repugnant that people do this kind of thing.
I think a hate crime targets a member of a particular group, such as a religious, ethnic, or sexual minority. In Eichenwald’s case, he was targeted as a member of the media critical of Trump.
And yes, last year he stated that he was a Christian.
There is more information here - I think it has to do with what they found on the icloud account associated with the account that sent the strobe. Dallas News: Man faces hate-crime charges
Yeah. I believe I was correct after reading the link you provided…
A hate-crime enhancement was added to the charge because of Rivello’s “bias or prejudice against a group identified by race, ancestry, or religion, namely: persons of Jewish faith or descent,” the indictment says.
That was from the article. Though Eichenwald is not Jewish, the fact is, the cyberstalker believed he was.