Murder, hate crime charges filed in Okla.

Jake England and Alvin Watts were charged with three counts of first-degree murder and malicious harassment based on race.

The two men confessed to the April 6 shootings and they were also charged with two counts of shooting with intent to kill.

The three dead people were identified as 49-year-old Dannaer Fields, 54-year-old Bobby Clark, and 31-year-old William Allen.

The next court session is expected to be held on April 16.

According to recent data from the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, an annual average of 51 hate crimes were reported from 2008 to 2010 and the most common hate crime in that period was anti-Black vandalism committed by white offenders.

Fields, Clark, and Allen were not the only victims of alleged hate crimes in the United States in recent weeks.

Trayvon Martin, a 17-year-old Black teenager, was gunned down by a neighborhood watch volunteer in Florida on February 26.

On March 24, 19-year-old Black college student Kendrec McDade was shot and killed by two Pasadena police officers in Los Angeles County, California. Pasadena Police Chief Phillip Sanchez said he believed as many as “eight shots” were fired at McDade.

According to a report by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, in 2010 the statistics on single-bias hate crime incidents that were prosecuted in the United States showed there were 3,949 victims of racially motivated hate crimes, with 70 percent being victims of anti-Black bias.

The FBI compiles annual statistics on hate crimes in the United States, but many commentators believe the bureau understates the real level of reported and unreported hate crimes each year.

HSN/HGL

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