An ardent white supremacist has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for 28 years for running down a young black teenager outside Portland in 2016.
Russell Courtier was found guilty of the murder of 19-year-old Larnell Bruce in March and sentenced Tuesday, HuffPost reports:
“Courtier and Colleen Hunt were in a Jeep driven by Courtier in August 2016 when he was encouraged by Hunt to drive into Bruce after the two fought outside a convenience store in the Portland suburb of Gresham, authorities have said.
“Prosecutors argued Courtier was motivated by his white supremacist beliefs — saying he was a member of the European Kindred white supremacist prison gang and was wearing the gang’s logo on his baseball cap and had its tattoo on his leg when he encountered Bruce.”
Prosecutor David Hannon noted that Courtier was violent and “unapologetic” for his white supremacist views, even after being convicted of the crime.
Christina Miles, the mother of the victim, told Courtier in court that “you allowed the devil to misguide you and take the life of such a beautiful young spirit,” and she added that she hopes Courtier spends his time in prison thinking about whether or not he wants his own son, who is 8, to grow up among white supremacists:
“That ideology that you have is not good for anybody.”
Courtie didn’t speak during the sentencing because his lawyers said they had advised him against doing so. He is already serving a four-year sentence for his role in a 2015 bar attack.
Hunt, who was also in the Jeep at the time of the crime, pleaded guilty to manslaughter and agreed to accept a 10-year sentence for her role in the murder.
Bruce’s father, Larnell Bruce Sr., told HuffPost that his son wasn’t perfect, but deserved better:
“He was a kid trying to find himself,” said Bruce Sr. “I’m not trying to say he was an angel, but he was my angel. He loved people, he loved football and he loved to cook with my wife. He just loved life and was good to the people around him.”
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