JustASC

The case of the Michigan State student who claimed he was the victim of an anti-Semitic attack heads toward its sad conclusion:

The family of Michigan State student Zachary Tennen, who said he was the victim of a hate crime following an off-campus party, has asked prosecutors to close the case.

Ingham County Prosecutor Stuart Dunnings III said police investigators interviewed 50 witnesses in the Aug. 26 attack but did not turn up any evidence that the attack was due to racial or religious bias.

Tennen, 19, claimed that two suspects with shaved heads yelled “Heil Hitler” during the assault, during which his jaw was broken.

The family wrote in a Sept. 24 letter that “justice will be best served by closing this investigation at this time,” according to reports. “The Tennen family is cognizant of the fact that substantial resources were expended to investigate these allegations and that there is insufficient evidence of a hate crime to go forward with a criminal prosecution.”

A local paper has a lurid account of Tennen’s alleged behavior the night of the incident; the suspect accused of throwing the punch that decked him said he “warned Tennen in a private conversation to stop hitting on the girls” — and by “hitting on,” he meant harassing.

A Michigan blogger named Ann Nichols renders judgment:

In the end, I just feel angry, ill-used and manipulated. I still feel sorry for the kid because I think his spectacularly poor choices have probably ruined his life. I still want to hit him again for making this town look bad, for refusing to allow young women her freedom, and for abusing legislation meant to protect real, innocent victims of hate crimes.