Hate crime survivor David Ritcheson jumps from cruise ship and dies

In the news today. David Ritcheson, 18, who survived the hate crime attack by David Henry Tuck and Keith Turner in Texas, jumps from a cruise ship and dies. He testified in front of Congress on hate crimes in the past.

Survivor of attack jumps from ship, dies, father says

A Texas teenager who testified before Congress in April about his horrific beating was killed Sunday when he leaped from the upper deck of a cruise ship into the Gulf of Mexico.

David Ritcheson, 18, of suburban Houston, was pronounced dead Sunday morning after being pulled aboard the Ecstasy, a 70,000-ton Carnival Cruise Lines ship en route to Cozumel, Mexico, from Galveston.

Ritcheson, a Mexican-American, was beaten unconscious and sodomized with a plastic pole by two men shouting "White Power!" during a drug-fueled party in April 2006. He was hospitalized for more than three months and endured 20-30 painful surgeries in the months following the attack.

But the lesson still stands: Hate crimes don't pay.

Two men were convicted of aggravated sexual assault in the attack. David Henry Tuck, then 18, was sentenced to life in prison. Keith Robert Turner, then 17, was sentenced to 90 years in prison. Both must serve at least 30 years before being eligible for parole.

Related Links:
Keith Turner gets 90 year prison sentence
White supremacist David Henry Tuck gets life sentence