Texas woman convicted of hate crimes for 2022 racist assault on Asian American women
Esmeralda Upton was convicted of hate crime charges after a 2022 altercation in which she made racist comments and attempted to hit the women.
A woman in Plano, Texas, has been convicted on charges of hate crime in connection to a 2022 incident in which several Asian American women were physically and verbally attacked.
Esmeralda Upton, 59, was convicted on Friday of three misdemeanor assault charges and one misdemeanor charge of terroristic threat, the Collin County District Attorney announced. Each of the charges includes a state hate crime enhancement, alleging that Upton chose the victims based on her bias and prejudice against their race and national origin, a news release said.
It comes after Upton was accused of attacking four South Asian women outside a restaurant two years ago. During the altercation, she made racist comments, attempted to hit the women, told them to “go back to India,” video of the incident showed.
Upton, who pleaded guilty to the four charges, was sentenced to two years of community supervision probation and 40 days confinement in the Collin County Jail for each of the cases, served concurrently.
“As Americans, we should all be able to enjoy our constitutional liberties, free and secure from this type of racially motivated assault,” said Greg Willis, Collin County district attorney.
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