2 Men Plead Not Guilty In Hate Crime

[AlphaCentauri]

Source: THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Two Ecuadorean brothers, stumbling home arm-in-arm after a night out, were viciously attacked, and one beaten to death with a baseball bat, by prejudiced, anti-Hispanic men who mistook them for a gay couple, prosecutors said Tuesday.

Hakim Scott and Keith Phoenix went on trial on charges of murder and assault as a hate crime, one day after a teenager was convicted of manslaughter as a hate crime in an unrelated but similar case on Long Island where an Ecuadorean man was stabbed to death.

Scott, 26, and Phoenix, 30, have pleaded not guilty in the death of Jose Sucuzhanay and attempted assault of his brother, Romel. Scott is accused of smashing a beer bottle over Jose Sucuzhanay's head, then chasing after Romel with the jagged edge. Prosecutors said Phoenix then beat Jose Sucuzhanay with an aluminum baseball bat so badly he cracked his skull open. He died days after the attack.

The brothers were walking home from a bar after a party at a local church in Brooklyn on Dec. 7, 2008. Romel Sucuzhanay had put his coat around his brother to keep him warm, and was helping him walk because he was fairly drunk, prosecutors said.

Meanwhile, Scott, Phoenix and a teenage relative of Phoenix's, also leaving a party, pulled up in an SUV. They began yelling anti-gay and anti-Hispanic slurs, according to Assistant District Attorney Josh Hanshaft.


Read more: http://www.wpix.com/news/local/wpix-ecuadorean-brothers-hate-crime,0,4106231.story

[tomm2thumbs]

1. just terrible - no words

[tom_paine]

2. 'Lotta angry Teabaggers/KKK-types out there

And Obama's election seems to have driven more than a few of them more insane than usual.

[Rebubula]

4. Well to be fair...

...the attackers are not white. So, the KKK label does not apply in this situation.

Hate crimes come in all colors...

[tom_paine]

5. True. n/t

[Dogtown]

6. These men are probably not teabaggers.

I believe both the perps are young black men.

Unfortunately, it seems the hate crime was committed primarily because the victims were perceived as gay, and secondarily because they were Hispanic.

Sad that men who have undoubtedly felt the sting of racism themselves should exhibit xenophobia and homophobia.

It's cyclic.

We humans are very imperfectly evolved primates.

[tom_paine]

7. I thought the Teabaggers had many African-Americans in it

Just kidding - gotcha!

Yep, this was an ill-considered comment on my part.

And yes, we ARE imperfectly evolved primates - although we may be EXACTLY what the primate genome was aiming for. In which case the primate genome is an evolutionary dead end.

[AlphaCentauri]

8. There is a Black tea party

http://www.bvblackspin.com/2010/04/15/black-tea-party-member/

[Stumbler]

3. And people keep asking "what will happen when/if violence starts?"

This is yet another example showing that it has already started. Terrible story...

[hayu_lol]

9. When 'boys', Pat Buchanan and his brothers used to do this...

to minorities they caught walking alone in DC. They cruised around in daddy's Oldsmobile.

[bitchkitty]

10. Never heard that before.

What is your source? Curious.