Hate Crime Victim David Ritcheson Jumps to His Death on Cruise Ship

Remember David Ritcheson, a Mexican-American who was sodomized with a plastic pole and beat unconscious during a party last year? The Associated Press has reported that Ritcheson jumped to his death on a cruise ship. He was a victim of hate crime conducted by white teenagers who shouted "white power" during the assault last year.

Since then it appears he has suffered mentally and could have contributed to him jumping to his death on Sunday. He did make this statement once,"it was just really hard to hold your head up, even to walk outside with everyone almost in the world knowing what happened."

On Monday, a man who said that he was the father of Ritcheson, told the Associated Press that his son jumped to his death off a cruise ship in the Gulf of Mexico. He further stated that he would talk to the press later.

Although Ritcheson rarely spoke of this crime against him, he managed to testify before Congress in favor of a hate crimes bill, just about three months ago. The Houston Chronicle interviewed him and he had this to say: "I shouldn't care what people think or say. It's just the fact that everyone knows I'm the kid. It was bigger than Houston. It was bigger than Texas. It was bigger than America. Everybody in the world knew what had happened and everybody knew the details of it."

The details of what happened to him were that he was beaten and sodomized with a patio umbrella pole. He was burned with cigarettes, stomped and had bleach poured on him. Then he was just left. Going through a series of 20-30 operations, Ritcheson spent more then three months in the hospital. His perpetrators were prosecuted and 19-year-old David Tuck was sentenced to life in prison. 18-year-old Keith Turner received a 90-year sentence for his contribution in the attack.

Ritcheson, 18, leaped to his death off the Ecstasy (which was on its way to Cozumel, Mexico). Witnesses watched him jump off the upper deck around 7:30 AM, Sunday morning. The Coast Guard was notified before the recovery of his body. Surprisingly, the prosecutor of his hate crime case stated that he seemed to be positive about his recovery.

ABC News - http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=3339157
Lonestar Times - http://lonestartimes.com/2007/07/02/david-ritcheson-rip/