Semaj De Leone James, 21, of South Los Angeles, was charged with a felony hate crime in connection with the April 27 assault of a Jewish man walking home from synagogue in the Pico-Robertson neighborhood of Los Angeles, prosecutors announced on Tuesday.
According to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, James allegedly followed the victim in a van into an alley near Adas Torah synagogue before attacking him “without provocation” at about 9:50 p.m. The incident is being investigated as a hate crime.
LAPD detectives, working with the FBI, identified James and arrested him on May 19 in South Los Angeles. He pleaded not guilty at his arraignment the following day. A judge released him on his own recognizance over prosecutors’ objections and ordered him to stay away from the scene of the alleged attack.
“Attacking someone because of their faith is not just a crime against one person, it’s an assault on our community,” Nathan J. Hochman, district attorney for Los Angeles County, stated. “I want every resident in Los Angeles County to know that my office will aggressively prosecute hate crimes against our communities.”
The victim, identified in media reports as a 32-year-old Judaic studies teacher, said the assailant attacked him after following him from the synagogue.
James is scheduled to return to court on June 4. If convicted, he faces up to three years in county jail.
