February 3, 2021 4:34 pm PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) – A Barrington man was found guilty on misdemeanor assault and disorderly conduct charges after an altercation with his next-door neighbor in August. Richard Gordon, 71, was found guilty in court on Wednesday of one count of each simple assault and disorderly conduct. “The State filed a sentencing enhancement in this case, pursuant to Rhode Island’s Hate Crimes Sentencing Act, on August 11, 2020. In Rhode Island, there is no free-standing hate crime; rather, a defendant must first be convicted of a criminal offense,” a release from the attorney general’s office stated. “If a defendant is convicted of a criminal offense, there is a separate sentencing hearing at which the State must prove that the criminal offense was motivated by ‘the actor’s hatred or animus toward the actual or perceived disability, religion, color, race, national origin or ancestry, sexual orientation, or gender of that person.’ If the court determines beyond a reasonable doubt that the criminal offense was so motivated, the penalty for the criminal offense can be increased pursuant to the Rhode Island Hate Crimes Sentencing Act.”