(AP) — Scotts Bluff County prosecutors have appealed a judge’s dismissal of a hate crime count against a teen accused of writing a racial epithet on a classmate’s car window.

Scotts Bluff County Attorney Jeremy Anderson appeared at a hearing on his appeal Friday, and will later submit a brief outlining his arguments against County Judge James Worden’s dismissal of the case.

Last month, Worden ended a trial and dismissed the case against 18-year-old Alysha Schwartzkopf, of Gering.

Prosecutors say that Schwartzkopf scrawled a racial epithet in 2013 on the car windows of a Gering High School senior who is biracial.

But Worden agreed with Schwartzkopf’s attorney, who said state law regarding graffiti applied only to buildings and other structures, not car windows.