Please imagine yourself as an innocent person but was proven guilty, obviously, you wouldnt be satisfied even a little

bit. However, that kind of situation happened right now, a bright teenager who was looking forward a new start had his dream crushed, ruined, demolished. On February 13, Arthur, was proven guilty for a hate crime against Luis Cruz. Although Arthur didnt intentionally kill Luis Cruz, he was proven guilty. That is why Arthur Bauer and I shouldve been proven innocent for hate crime. I had no other choice but to signal Arthur to hit Luis on the back so that we can stop the fight before it got any bigger. Please imagine yourself as a regular football player who just finished his regular practice. However, all of a sudden, a random person youve never seen before comes up to you to start a fight. I was placed in that kind of situation when I was with Arthur. I panicked, I had no other choice but to give a blow on Luis. Luis was muscular, tall, and looked like he worked out when I first saw him. Even though I won against a fight with Luis, my teammates wouldve helped Luis and attacked me because honestly speaking, I was an infamous guy among my team. Also, he provoked me by sating You would smack a little kid in the face, right? Why dont you come over here and try to smack me? I was frightened and mad at the same time so I signaled Arthur to knock Luis out before the fight got any bigger. This was a justifiable act of self defense and was definitely not intentioned to kill Luis. We were not aware of the Aneurysm he had and we werent definitely aware of his disabilities. So we had no idea t hat by giving a blow on his head with a blackjack once would lead to his death but we did believe that he could be a big harm to us. Talking about that, I would like to explain how this act was definitely for self-defense and was not intentioned to kill Luis or do any major harms. Please imagine again that youre a not-

so-buff man and in midnight, a muscular man comes up to you trying to start a fight. If you had the chance, you would blow him on the head to stop the fight, right? Then, that act would be proved as an act of self-defense, but for us, it was considered as a hate crime. I want to ask, what is the definition of a self-defense and a hate crime? Under the law of Florida, self-defense means the defense of ones person through the use of physical force to answer a charge of a violent crime and a hate crime is a crime motivated by racial, sexual, or other prejudice. Arthur was also threatened by Luis Cruz and that is why he stopped the fight and he was not motivated to kill someone because of their race, sex, or any other reason. Arthur and I would never be racially discriminatory. I was never racist against anyone so this act cannot be proved as a prejudice. The prosecution side kept on stating that I was very discriminatory towards other people but that is not true. They supported their false idea by saying that I teased Tino Cruz by calling him a farm labor kid however I wasnt being discriminatory. I was simply teasing about their economic status. Also, there were rumors about how someone heard me teasing a black kid but that isnt true. They just misunderstood what I said. What I want to point out from telling you this is that, Arthur and I would never racially discriminative so this hit shouldnt be considered as a hate crime. Arthur and I had no other choice but to hit Luis so that it can prevent any further, bigger conflicts. Also, this act was simply done for self-defense and we had no intention to kill Luis Cruz. Thus, both Arthur and I shouldve been proven innocent from the hate crime. Lastly, I want to ask, what is the true meaning of justice?