Any Houston criminal attorney can tell you that one of the most difficult things about hate crimes is proving the true motive of a crime. The fact is, unless a witness saw the suspect say something offensive about the victim during the course of the crime, it is hard to establish whether the victim’s race, religion, sex or sexual orientation actually played a part in the motive for the criminal’s actions.

This is very well illustrated in a recent criminal investigation circulating around white supremacist Stevie “Bubba” Walder’s recent murder of Naushad Virani during a convenience store robbery. Officials are finding it difficult to determine if Walder chose to rob the store, or chose to kill the clerk, based on the fact that Virani was a practicing Muslim, or if he merely wanted to commit a robbery, which resulted in a murder, and Virani only had the bad luck of being the person who happened to be behind the counter at the time.

Opponents of hate crime legislation claim these are some of the biggest problems with the crimes. Whether or not Virani was a Muslim, they claim, Walder should be held responsible for his acts. The issue is whether the crime is more serious if Walder shot Virani because he was not a white man, an issue which will continue to create controversy in the community.

To read more about the shooting and investigation, see the article in the Houston Chronicle . Image Via alancleaver [Flickr].