Jury deadlocks on hate crime charges in San Jose State case

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP)  - Three former San Jose State University students have been convicted of misdemeanor battery for bullying a black roommate by putting a bicycle lock around his neck and taunting him with racial slurs.

But interim campus president Sue Martin said in a statement that a Santa Clara County jury deadlocked on the hate crime charges faced by two of the defendants and acquitted the third of a hate crime.

The harassment of the black freshman by his white suitemates came to light in fall 2013 after the student's parents visited him and saw a Confederate flag and a dry erase board with a racial epithet written on it in their dorm suite.

The white students subsequently were expelled from San Jose State.

The bullied student has sued the university.