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Dallas man convicted of hate crime against Indian American

A Dallas county jury in Texas has convicted Mark Anthony Stroman of the murder of Vasudev Patel at a petrol pump shortly after the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington.

Stroman had told the police that he had killed Patel, 49, an immigrant from India, to avenge the terrorist attacks.

The defence attorney conceded that Stroman had committed the murder, but argued that he did not enter the gas station with the intention of killing the owner.

Prosecutors, however, pointed to a surveillance tape of the murder which, they said, showed Stroman was a callous, cold-blooded murderer.

The jury took less than an hour on Tuesday to return the guilty verdict.

The Dallas News quoted John Patel, uncle of the victim, as saying that Stroman must be "punished by the court and by the jury, by our system, so that society can live freely".

Stroman's contention that he was motivated by the September 11 attacks was not correct, he said. "He just wanted to rob people."

The defence had rested its case on Monday without presenting any witnesses.

Stroman is also charged with killing a convenience store owner Waquar Hasan, a Pakistani, and has admitted to shooting another person which acts, he said, were out of revenge for the terrorist attacks.

The jury will now consider punishment for Stroman, who could face life in prison or death by lethal injection.

PTI

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