Yeah sorry, thoughts always get a free pass. Thought-crime is not a thing and god forbid it ever becomes one. No one is or should be punished for thoughts. People are and should only be punished for their actions.

Have you even heard the interview? This wasn't "thought crime". He didn't say "I thought about doing this". He actively took a weapon, went out on the streets and SOUGHT to do this. If he had actually committed the crime, that would have been called "premeditation". Even without that, PLANNING to commit a violent hate crime would also have been a crime if he was caught. Conspiracy to commit charges are a well established part of law.

His actions, in this case, were actively trying to find a random person to murder. Trying to call that "thought crime" is disingenuous to the extreme.