Sean Christopher Urbanski Indicted For The Stabbing Death of Richard Collins III
Richard Collins IIII
It was Saturday, May 20, 2017. Richard Wilbur Collins III was 23 years old. He completed his ROTC training and had been recently commissioned as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army, where he expected to join the intelligence division.
Richard was attending Bowie State University, in Maryland. He was with two friends standing at a bus stop at the University of Maryland’s campus in College Park. In three days, he was to graduate.
Sean Christopher Urbanski took away Richard’s opportunity to graduate. Urbankski took away Richard’s military career. Urbanksi took away Richard’s future. Urbankski took all of that away by carrying out an unprovoked stabbing to Richard’s chest with a knife.
On the day of what would have been Richard’s commencement ceremony, his cap and gown were draped over an empty seat during the ceremony. His family received a standing ovation as they accepted a degree on Richard’s behalf.
Meanwhile, Sean Christopher Urbanski was sitting in a jail cell, denied bail.
Sean Christopher Urbanski is 22 years-old. He was a student at the University of Maryland. He was a member of a Facebook group called “Alt-Reich,” which spewed hatred toward women, Blacks and other minorities. University of Maryland Police Chief David Mitchell described the group’s posts as bigoted and “despicable.”
Earlier reports stated that Urbanski was being charged with a hate-crime. However, CBS News reported on July 13, 2017 that the killing had been under investigation as a possible hate crime. On that day, the Prince George’s County Office of the State’s Attorney said in a statement that a grand jury indicted Sean Urbanski on one count of murder in the death of Richard Collins III.
The Root reports that a video of the attack was instrumental in getting the indictment.
The State’s Attorney’s office intends to seek a life sentence without parole. Urbanski was not charged with committing a hate crime, but that can change. The FBI is assisting with analysis of digital equipment seized from Urbanski. Their investigation is expected to conclude in several weeks.
Fox2Now reports that even before Collins’ death, the University of Maryland was grappling with a series of racially charged incidents. Student complained that staff diminished racism, which has included nooses and calling Black students the “N” word.
Posted on 07/14/2017, in Cases, civil rights, Richard Collins III and tagged Bowie State University, indicted, Maryland, murder, Richard Collins III, Sean Christopher Urbanski, University of Maryland. Bookmark the permalink. 12 Comments.
We Hold These Truths To Be Self-Evident 
Richard had such a bright future ahead of him. So heartbreaking. My prayers are with his loved ones.
Hopefully he will receive justice. Sadly, it will not bring him back.
Thanks, Xena, for informing us about the indictment of Urbanski.
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It is beyond comprehension how the murder of this young man could be considered anything but a “hate” crime! If the roles had been reversed and Richard been a member of a radical group and that group promoted the murder of white people, can anyone tell me that he would not have been charged with a hate crime in addition to murder? Is Maryland really trying to mirror Florida in their biased justice system? Some days I think that I overslept and woke up back in the early 1950’s! At least back then people did not hide their racist priorities like they do in these enlightened times! Hopefully a jury will render justice based on the facts and not on the race of the victim or the accused!
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Mothman,
I looked for the DOJ’s manual for prosecuting violation of Civil Rights to see if there was anything that can help us understand the type of evidence they seek,, and found that it is being revised.
One reason why people in the 50’s and earlier were outspoken about their racial bigotries, is because there was no law against violating the civil rights of others because of their race, religion, etc. The federal Civil Rights Act was signed in 1964.
It appears that unless the party admits to harming property and or life because of the victims’ race, that the feds cannot put puzzle pieces together that would constitute beyond a shadow of a doubt. You see it as a hate crime. I see it as a hate crime, but what proof do we use to substantiate that? What is revealed on Urbanski’s social media. Then we run into if it constituted freedom of speech, or caused such impression that Urbanski would be encouraged to kill a black person?
I personally wonder why he was carrying a knife, and a knife that kills when used to stab a person in the chest?
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Dear Xena, While we seem to be unable to make a valid hate law case against Urbanski, the state of Maryland does not seem to have a problem using their hate law statutes to make a case involving political signs! Disgusting that burning a trump sign is considered hate but a white man who has known white supremacy affiliations does not qualify! I guess a trump sign is more important in the state of Maryland than the life of a black man…
http://reason.com/blog/2017/04/19/political-protest-or-hate-crime
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Mothman,
There’s some good news since that blog post was published. The hate crime and second degree arson charges were dropped.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/crime/bs-md-trump-sign-folo-20170420-story.html
The two women still face charges of malicious burning, trespassing and malicious destruction of property. Their trials were scheduled for May, but I did not find any news reports that trial has taken place.
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Xena, While that is good news, it still shows the willingness of the prosecutor in that district to apply the hate statutes to a case that involves simply property, yet in another district in that same state, a prosecutor struggles to apply hate statutes to charges against a man who murdered a black man! It still comes down to the fact that the laws and the application of those laws is not utilized in an unbiased manner! I spent a little time reading the applicable laws from the state of Maryland prior to my last post, and IMO there is a good possibility that this case will have problems. By asking for life without parole, the prosecutor faces the problem of securing a jury that votes totally on the sentence, and with that in mind, and the normal offering of several optional charges for the jury to make their verdict on, it is possible that he will only receive punishment for a lessor charge. I may be wrong about suspecting manipulation of the system in favor of the defendant in this case, but we will have to wait and see, I suppose!
I might add, if Richard Wilbur Collins III not been killed in the attack, hate charges could have been easy to prosecute… These laws need to be rewritten to take some of the discretion away from the prosecutor who currently have way too much power in deciding who is charged and how and what crime they are charged with!!!
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Mothman,
Re:
That’s true, and it’s probably because the legislatures who wrote the law have no experience knowing what it’s like to be hated because of the color of their skin or their religion. There is also a denial factor that comes into play.
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I’ve been following this story and others like it. The rise in hate crimes across the nation (and right here in Oregon where I live) has been scary to watch.
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Eurobrat,
Yes. People are embolden because they hear the DOJ say over and over again how hard it is to get evidence of a hate crime and/or a violation of civil rights.
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Yep, the new administration encourages this kind of behavior. It’s left to us to stand up against these attacks, I guess.
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Eurobrat,
There has certainly been an increase in hate crimes since Trump was elected. I hope that SCLC is keeping track of them, because with prosecutors not charging, there might not be true stats.
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