This photo provided by the Bloomington Police Department shows Billie Davis (Bloomington Police Department via AP)
An Indiana woman has learned her fate for stabbing an 18-year-old Indiana University student with a folding knife between seven and 10 times in the head as the victim was riding a public bus to school, all because the victim was of Asian descent.
Billie Davis, 57, has been sentenced to six years in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release for committing a federal hate crime. Davis pleaded guilty in September to willfully causing bodily injury to a victim with a knife because the victim was of Chinese descent, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced in a press release.
The attack happened on Jan. 11, 2023. Davis stabbed the 18-year-old student as the victim stood up to get off the bus. The victim exited the bus, screaming in pain.
After the attack, Davis sat back down on the bus, where she remained until other passengers confronted her, and she got off the bus. But she was eventually arrested after a witness followed her and told police her whereabouts, authorities said.
The victim suffered serious wounds and cuts that required sutures and staples to heal, officials said.
In police custody, Davis described the victim to investigators as “some Asian f—ing c—,” prosecutors said. Davis told police she did it for her “being Chinese,” and this “would be one less person to blow up our country.”
In the press release, Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division upbraided the defendant.
“Racially motivated violence has no place in our society,” Clarke said. “This defendant targeted a young woman, who was simply riding a public bus to school, solely because she was Chinese. The sentence imposed for these vicious hate crimes should send a strong message that perpetrators of hate-fueled violence will be held accountable. The Justice Department is steadfast in its commitment to investigating and prosecuting hate crimes wherever they occur in our country.”
James Wimbush, the vice president for diversity, equity, and multicultural affairs at Indiana University, said shortly after the attack that the case was a sad reminder that “anti-Asian hate is real and can have painful impacts on individuals and our community.”
“No one should face harassment or violence due to their background, ethnicity or heritage,” he said. “Instead, the Bloomington and IU communities are stronger because of the vast diversity of identities and perspectives that make up our campus and community culture. To our Asian and Asian American friends, colleagues, students, and neighbors, we stand firmly with you.”
The university’s Asian Culture Center held an emergency meeting. Some students expressed concerns for their safety. Others recalled times they witnessed or experienced racial discrimination while riding the bus.
“We should not be fearing for our lives on public transportation,” the center said in a statement. “Taking the bus should not feel dangerous. The fact that the perpetrator announced that race was the motivation for her attack sends a jolt through our Asian community.”
Law&Crime reported in May 2023 that state charges of attempted murder, aggravated battery and battery by means of a deadly weapon were dismissed as Davis faced the federal hate crime charge.
The defendant’s son his mother suffers from severe mental illness, he said in an email to a Herald-Times reporter.
“I feel sorry for the victim, so sorry, it’s a sad situation all around but people need to know how bad my mom has been crying for help especially in the last couple months,” he wrote, the newspaper reported. “People need to know that she’s mentally ill and this is not her.”
