DENVER — A man will spend five years in prison for assaulting two Hispanic men while shouting racial slurs at them, the Denver District Attorney’s Office announced Tuesday.
Ryan Austin Lee, 43, was sentenced Friday by Denver District Court Judge William Robbins. In addition to prison, Lee was sentenced to two years of mandatory parole.
Lee has a history of racial intimidation, prosecutors said. In April, a jury found him guilty of two counts of bias-motivated crimes and two counts of assault in the third degree for the March 2, 2018 attack on two Hispanic men. He faced the possibility of up to 15 years in prison.
On that day, the two victims were in a vehicle in front of a home on West Mosier Place when Lee approached the vehicle, reached through a window and punched the passenger in the face, according to a probable cause statement from Denver Police.
The driver and passenger got out of the vehicle and walked toward the home, and, as they did, Lee grabbed the passenger by the back of his collar, threw him to the ground and repeatedly kicked him in the head, the statement says. During the attack, Lee yelled racial slurs and "get back to Mexico."
One year earlier, in March 2017, Lee wielded a hammer while threatening and chasing a mixed-race couple and their 7-year-old son through Garfield Park in southwest Denver, according to prosecutors.
In that case, Lee received a one-year sentence for felony menacing and for a bias-motivated misdemeanor. His sentences will run concurrently.
“Hate crimes are criminal expressions of bigotry that terrorize the entire community,” Denver District Attorney Beth McCann said. “Mr. Lee shouted racial epithets while attacking the victims, which provided the jury with the motive needed to find Lee guilty of a hate crime. We are pleased that the jury agreed with us that these crimes were racially motivated.”
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