An Iowa woman pleaded guilty to hate crimes charges after she admitted to authorities that she intentionally ran over two children in 2019 because of their ethnicity.
Nicole Poole Franklin, 43, pleaded guilty to two counts of violating the U.S. Hate Crime Act for trying to kill the children in separate attacks because of their races. Earlier this week, she also pleaded guilty to two state counts of attempted murder, for the same incidents, according to the Gazette.
On Dec. 9 2019, Poole intentionally jumped a curb and hit a 12-year-old black boy injuring his leg. She told prosecutors she thought the boy was of Middle Eastern descent and was a member of ISIS.
About an hour later she ran over a 14-year-old girl because “she is Mexican.” The girl suffered numerous injuries including a concussion and was hospitalized for several days. Poole was arrested about an hour later at a local gas station, where officers say she had thrown items at a clerk while yelling racial slurs at him and other customers.
Poole said she has been schizophrenic and suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder. Last year, a judge ruled that she wasn’t mentally competent to stand trial, but she was later restored to mental competency and ordered to face trial, according to the Gazette.
She faces a maximum sentence of life in prison, but prosecutors recommended that she be sentenced to 27 years. It is not clear if any charges against her will be dropped as part of her plea deal.
