A man charged with a federal hate crime for beating a gay man to death has pleaded guilty in exchange for a 28-year sentence instead of life in prison.
Kelly Schneider had been set for a March trial after pleading guilty to first-degree murder in state court last month.
Idaho’s hate crime law does not protect on the basis of sexual orientation. He pleaded guilty in exchange for prosecutors dropping robbery, theft and conspiracy charges.
He said he intended to rob his victim but that he never intended to kill him.
But he was also indicted earlier in January on the hate crime charge.
On Tuesday, in exchange for a 28-year sentence instead of life in prison, Schneider pleaded guilty to the federal hate crime charge.
He was accused of attacking Steven Nelson because he was gay.
According to prosecutors, Nelson was found by Schneider on the backdoor.com personals site.
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