A 43-year-old woman who intentionally drove her SUV into two children ‘because of their races’ has pleaded guilty to federal hate crimes.
Nicole Poole Franklin entered the pleas in a federal court in Des Moines to two counts of violating the US Hate Crime Act after she tried to kill the children in separate attacks because she thought one was a member of the Islamic State group and the other a Mexican.
Franklin also pleaded guilty to two state counts of attempted murder in the 2019 attacks.
Prosecutors said she intentionally jumped a curb and struck a 12-year-old boy, who was left with a leg injury.
During the Wednesday hearing, Franklin said she thought that the boy was a member of the Islamic State.
Only minutes later, she hit a 14-year-old Hispanic girl on a sidewalk and left her with more severe injuries.
Franklin was later arrested at a local gas station where police say she had thrown items at a male clerk while shouting racial slurs at him and other people.
She said that she has post-traumatic stress disorder and is schizophrenic. A judge ruled that she was not mentally competent to stand trial but she was later ordered before a court after she was restored to mental competency.
Prosecutors recommended that the 43-year-old be sentenced to 27 years in prison and that her state sentence be served at the same time as her federal sentence.
The Hispanic girl has been identified as Natalia Miranda. In an interview with local KCCI, she said: “I don’t remember the impact. I just remember the car coming towards me.
“I was in the hospital bed and I tried moving but I couldn’t. Sitting up was the worst pain I’ve ever felt.”
Before Franklin’s arrest, she had begged for the person responsible to take responsibility and come forward.
“I didn’t do anything, I’m just a girl walking to a basketball game,” she added.
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