Columbia hate crime suspects alleged to have targeted Hispanics held without bail

Two Columbia men charged with hate crime robberies that targeted Hispanics were ordered held without bond Tuesday at their arraignments in federal court.

Magistrate Judge Shiva Hodges ordered the two defendants, Charles Antonio Clippard, 26, and Michael Joseph Knox, 28, detained after a request from Assistant U.S Attorney Ben Garner.

Both pleaded not guilty. They still have the right to request a formal bond hearing.

After court, Clippard’s court-appointed attorney, William “Bill” Watkins of Columbia, told reporters that he has not seen evidence so far to support that this is a hate crime case.

“The discovery (evidence) that we have seen so far does not show any hatred toward Latinos,” said Watkins. In the alleged crimes, victims “were simply targets of opportunity” who were not chosen because of their ethnicity, he said.

Knox is represented by attorney Victor Li of Columbia.

According to an indictment in the case, in January and February 2021, Clippard and Knox conspired to target people the defendants identified as “Mexican and Hispanic” at places of public accommodation, including a restaurant, gas stations and grocery stores. Clippard and Knox are African Americans.

An indictment in the case alleges that the defendants committed three armed robberies as part of the conspiracy, including one carjacking, because of the victims’ race and national origin and because those individuals were using places of public accommodation.

Clippard and Knox were originally arrested back in 2021 by the Richland County Sheriff’s Department.

At that time, Lott told reporters they may be connected to 17 armed robberies that happened in Richland County, Columbia and Forest Acres. Both men face numerous state charges in connection with some of those robberies but have yet to go to trial on any of them.

The federal indictment that Clippard and Knox were arraigned on Tuesday says that they targeted people they identified as Mexican or Hispanic at places of public accommodation, including gas stations and grocery stores.

“After identifying these targets, the defendants would rob their victims at gunpoint. The indictment alleges that the defendants committed three armed robberies as part of the conspiracy, including one carjacking, because of the victims’ race and national origin and because those individuals were using places of public accommodation,” according to a U.S. Attorneys’ office press release..

Byron Gipson, 5th Circuit solicitor, said Tuesday the state charges against Clippard and Knox are pending. His office is watching the federal case and will make a decision on how to proceed after the federal charges are resolved, Gipson said.

“We’ll keep our charges in place, and there will be some dialogue between us and the U.S. Attorney’s office,” Gipson said.

Clippard and Knox are charged with three hate crime counts, one count of conspiracy, one count of carjacking and three firearms offenses., according to a U.S. Attorney’s office press release. If convicted, each faces a minimum penalty of 21 years in prison for the firearms offenses, a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison on each hate crime count and a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison on the carjacking count.

Lott said on Tuesday, “I wish our state had a hate crime enhancement for crimes like this. Hate crimes do exist. I appreciate that the U.S. Attorney is prosecuting these criminals.”

South Carolina is one of two states — the other being Wyoming — that do not have enhanced penalties for crimes motivated by bias against a particular group, according to the Associated Press.

This story was originally published December 13, 2023 at 5:30 AM.