The city of Indianapolis Federal prosecutors said Wednesday that a Bloomington woman has been sentenced to six years in federal prison for the racially motivated stabbing of an 18-year-old Chinese student at Indiana University.
On January 11, 2023, Billie Davis, 57, attacked the victim on a Bloomington Transit bus and entered a guilty plea to a federal hate crime. As the kid got up to leave the bus, Davis used a folding knife to stab the victim in the skull seven or ten times, according to court filings. The victim survived the incident despite needing medical attention for many stab wounds.
After the attack, witnesses told police, Davis stayed sat on the bus until other passengers confronted him. She proceeded to use racial epithets after getting off the bus, telling authorities that she attacked the victim because she was Chinese, calling her an enemy and a menace.
Only because she was Chinese, this defendant singled out a young woman who was only taking a public bus to school, according to Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. It should be clear from the punishment meted out for these heinous hate crimes that those who commit acts of violence motivated by hatred will face consequences.
Davis will serve three years of supervised release in addition to her jail term. As attacks against individuals of Asian origin rise, the case, which is being prosecuted under the Department of Justice’s hate crimes initiative, highlights an increasing effort to address bias-related violence.
United States Attorney Zachary A. Myers for the Southern District of Indiana stated that the severe federal prison sentence issued here should show our dedication to putting an end to this bigotry. No place in our wonderful nation, including Indiana, should be a safe haven for violent hate.
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