BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — A federal judge sentenced an Indiana woman to six years in prison and three years of supervised release for committing a federal hate crime in an attack on an Indiana University student in January 2023.
Billie Davis, 57, pleaded guilty in September to injuring a woman because of her race.
Davis told police that she stabbed the 18-year-old IU student on Jan. 11, 2023, because she thought the student was Chinese. Davis told a passenger on the bus that the student would blow up the bus because she was Asian.
The student, from Carmel, told police she was waiting for the doors of the bus to open when Davis hit her repeatedly in the head, which caused her to bleed. Police responded to the scene, and the victim was transported to the hospital.
While at the hospital for treatment, doctors found multiple stab wounds on the student's head.
"Racially motivated violence has no place in our society," said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke, of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. "The sentence imposed for this heinous hate crime should send a strong message that perpetrators of hate-fueled violence will be held accountable. The Justice Department is committed to protecting every American from hate crimes by investigating and vigorously prosecuting those who carry out such heinous attacks."
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Davis used a foldable knife to stab the student seven to 10 times.
Another passenger on the bus followed Davis as they got off the bus and gave police updates on her location. Davis was arrested and booked into the Monroe County Jail.
Davis later admitted to police that she attacked the student because she was Chinese. Davis used racial slurs against the student and called her the "enemy."
Investigators got camera footage from inside the bus, showing Davis and the victim had no interactions before the assault happened.
Davis was facing state charges of attempted murder, aggravated battery and battery with a deadly weapon. But in May 2023, the state dropped those charges to help speed up Davis's federal case.
A report released from the San Francisco based group Stop AAPI Hate found 11,400 AANHPI people self-reported they had been a victim of a hate crime. 17% of those incidents included physical violence, 16% included avoidance or shunning, and 12% included possible civil rights violations.
AANHPI community leaders in Bloomington condemned the "hate-based" attack, and urged university leaders to fight against the "disease" of hate crimes against AANHPI students.