Support from Ashcroft: hate crimes get overdue attention as the attorney general applies a little-known law to a six-year-old murder. (Justice).

It took six years, but the families of two female hikers who were killed because they were perceived to be lesbians may finally get justice--with help from a surprising ally: U.S. attorney general John Ashcroft.

Darrell David Rice was indicted April 10 for the murders of Julianne Williams and Laura "Lollie" Winans, who in 1996 were discovered bound, gagged, and with their throats slit in a remote section of Virginia's Shenandoah National Park. But even more surprising than the sudden indictment in the cold case was Ashcroft's decision to invoke a little-known federal law, the 1994 Hate Crime Sentencing Enhancement Act, which increases penalties for bias crimes that take place on federal lands.

Rice, who told police that he "hates gays" and that the women "deserved to die" because he thought they were lesbians, is accused of selecting his victims based on their gender and sexual orientation. "These families [of Williams and Winans] have suffered what Americans now know all too well--the pain and destruction wrought by hate," Ashcroft said. "Hatred is the enemy of justice. We will not rest until justice is done for Julianne Marie Williams and for Lollie Winans." The attorney general's passion is particularly interesting because as a Republican U.S. senator, Ashcroft was a vociferous opponent of hate-crimes legislation that included sexual orientation.

"This is a huge step forward in ensuring justice for victims of hate crimes," said Winnie Stachelberg, political director of the Human Rights Campaign. "This is the first time the statute has been used to combat a crime based on sexual orientation and gender."

Stachelberg said that HRC would use Ashcroft's decision as fuel in its lobbying efforts for the Local Law Enforce ment Enhancement Act, a sweeping federal bill that would stiffen penalties for crimes based on sexual orientation, gender, and disability--all of which are currently absent from federal hate-crimes law.

"The law the Justice Department invoked applies only to crimes that take place on federal property," Stachelberg said. "[This case] points out the need to fill the hole in federal law."