From what I’ve heard about Wallace (which not a ton since I never heard of him before this, not a nascar guy) by all accounts he a pretty good dude and has never been involved with any political shit.
Not only a hate crime but wouldn’t it also be fair to say at minimum a death threat? After all that exactly what the noose implies. Hate crimes can be a dicey thing, I had a acquaintance who got a pretty raw deal for something that was labeled a hate crime when in reality he was defending himself. I’m sure he brought the need for the self defense on himself cause he was a real asshole but the act itself was protecting himself not attacking someone cause of race. Nonetheless his sentence was far worse due to the other ppl involved being black.