Two men accused of a hate crime in Biddeford last April now face charges they attacked a small group of black men in Portland as well.
Dusty Leo, 28, and Maurice Diggins, 34, were believed to be the first in Maine charged of a hate crime under the 2009 Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act last August, four months after they allegedly attacked an African-American man outside a Biddeford convenience store while yelling racial epithets.
[Biddeford men charged in first-of-its-kind federal hate crime case]
Under a superseding indictment handed up by a grand jury this month, Leo and Diggins are now accused of another attack in Portland’s Old Port as well.
According to the new indictment, the men attacked a group of three black men outside a bar in the Old Port, breaking one man’s jaw, the same day they allegedly committed the Biddeford hate crime.
Both men pleaded not guilty to the original hate crime charge last August.
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Diggins pleaded not guilty to the new charges of conspiracy to commit a hate crime and committing a hate crime Monday, according to the Portland Press Herald. Leo will make his first court appearance related to the new indictment next week, the newspaper reported.
The state attorney general’s office filed a civil complaint against the men under the 1992 Maine Civil Rights Act. The men did not contest the civil case in court.
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