Commentary: Utah needs to reclaim position as a safe haven against hate crime

Last year in Draper, 57-year-old Mark Porter was arrested after shouting racial slurs at a 7-year-old boy and then zapping the boy’s father in the neck with a million-volt stun cane. Charged with third-degree aggravated assault, Porter faced no more than five years in prison.This September, the state charge against Porter was dismissed to make way for a federal hate-crime charge. Porter now faces a possible sentence of up to 10 years in prison.Why must the federal government step in to pro