Auburn Man Sentenced to Over Four Years for Racially Motivated Stabbing on Metro Bus

SEATTLE — A 25-year-old Auburn, Washington, man was sentenced to more than four years in prison Tuesday for a federal hate crime after he violently assaulted and stabbed a Black female passenger on a Metro bus because of her race.

The defendant, identified in the Justice Department announcement, received the prison term plus a period of supervised release. The assault occurred on a King County Metro bus when the man targeted the victim solely on the basis of her race, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Washington.

The sentence marks the completion of a federal prosecution that began after the stabbing. Under federal hate crime statutes, the conviction carries both incarceration and post-release supervision requirements. The exact term exceeds 48 months but was not further itemized in the department’s release.

The case now requires the Bureau of Prisons to designate a facility and begin the sentence. Upon release, the offender will enter supervised release under the U.S. Probation Office for the Western District of Washington, which must enforce any special conditions tied to the hate crime conviction.

The sentencing also adds to the department’s record of hate crime prosecutions in the Pacific Northwest, where U.S. Attorney’s Offices have pursued similar cases involving attacks on public transit.

This is the latest federal hate crime sentencing in Washington state involving an attack on a transit passenger. The Justice Department has pursued such cases under statutes that allow federal prosecution when bias motivation is proven, separate from any state charges that may also have been filed.

The announcement was made by First Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles Neil Floyd on behalf of the Western District of Washington.