Posted Aug. 28, 2008 – Twenty years worth of hate mail – directed at Black men who married or dated White women – got David Tuason almost four years in prison.

The 46-year-old man of Filipino descent apologized in federal court Tuesday for sending at least 200 threatening letters to such prominent men of color as Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter.

In May he had pleaded guilty to six counts of using the mail to send threatening communications and two counts of threatening interstate communications. Earlier, he admitted being angry with African-American men, saying that a Black man “stole” his girlfriend.   Federal agents reported finding hundreds of other hateful letters when they searched his room, according to U.S. Attorney Dean Valore.

"This conduct would have continued for 20 more years," Valore said.  In addition to a Supreme Court justice and Major League Baseball player, Tuason targeted other pro athletes, movie stars, musicians, news anchors, hospitals, police departments and lawyers, Valore said, noting that the defendant even threatened a girl whom he stressed out to the point where she couldn’t sleep or focus on her school work.

The common thread among all of his victims – whether Black, White or of mixed races – were that they all dated outside the race.

"Some of them will never recover," U.S. District Judge Donald C. Nugent said. "That's about as bad as it gets."

Tuason could have gotten up to 10 years, instead of his three-year, 10-month sentence, but the judge took into account that he had no prior convictions.

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