Hate Crimes

Today's paper had an article on the murder of Marcelo Lucero, an immigrant and whose death was part of a string of hate crimes committed by a 19-year-old boy named Jeffrey Conroy.
The article reviewed the case and told of the charges he was up against as he awaits his sentencing in the end of May. So far out of the 20 charges , the biggest and arguably the one carrying the most weight is first-degree manslaughter as a hate crime and gang violence. While he murdered this man, he attempted to kill many others as well so the sentencing could lead to him being behind bars until he is 44-years-old.
At first he was supposed to get second-degree manslaughter which would have automatically given him life behind bars and I am wondering why he got a lesser sentence? The jury said they saw the defendant as only attempting to injure the man and not kill him due to the one stab wound and not multiple and this accounted for the lesser sentence. However, he the defendant was out on the prowl to hurt Hispanic individuals with six other boys so I would he deserves the maximum.
This is horrible and only highlights the ignorance that plagues our generations as it trickles down to today's youth who feel it is their right to go out and hurt another human being because of their background, race or their personal life choices. Grow up people.