CITRUS SPRINGS, Fla. — A Florida man accused of violently attacking a Black man while yelling racist slurs pleaded guilty to a federal charge of hate crime, according to the Department of Justice.
Robert Lashley, 52, and co-defendant Roy Lashley each are charged with aiding and abetting one another, with willfully causing bodily injury to the victim because of the victim's actual and perceived race. The case against Roy Lashley is ongoing, the DOJ said in a statement.
According to earlier arrest affidavits, the attack happened in November 2021 outside a Dollar General in Citrus Springs. Investigators say the 24-year-old victim was found lying in a median along Deltona Boulevard, between the Dollar General and the Family Dollar.
Investigators say the 24-year-old told them he was walking away from the Dollar General and toward the Family Dollar when he heard Robert calling him racist slurs from a parking lot. According to an affidavit, the victim said Robert then ran across Deltona Boulevard, began punching him in the face, and got him on the ground where Robert kept hitting him. Roy ran over and struck the victim repeatedly with an axe handle, an affidavit said.
The affidavit says Roy, at one point, was heard telling Robert, "Come on, we have to go before the cops get here."
When law enforcement arrived, authorities say Roy kicked a deputy while being arrested.
At the time, Roy was booked locally for aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, battery on a law enforcement officer and resisting a law enforcement officer. Robert was initially charged with battery.
If convicted, Robert faces a maximum term of 10 years in prison, three years of mandatory supervised release and a $250,000 fine.
"The defendant is being held accountable for subjecting a Black man to a brutal and racially-motivated assault," Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said in a statement. "Convictions like these make clear that the Department of Justice will continue to investigate and prosecute individuals who violently assault others because of their race.
"Racially-motivated hate crimes have no place in our society."
Earlier 10 Tampa Bay reporting contributed to this story.
