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Man Guilty of Murder as Hate Crime

New York Times

/

June 28, 2010

A 30-year-old man accused of beating an Ecuadorean immigrant to death on a Brooklyn street was convicted on Monday of murder as a hate crime.
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8 Comments

8 Responses to
'Man Guilty of Murder as Hate Crime'


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  1. ARW said,

    on July 1st, 2010 at 11:25 am

    It’s about time! He deserved to be punish for this terrible crime he commited.

  2. Dakotahgeo said,

    on July 1st, 2010 at 12:30 pm

    I believe justice gets stronger every day we deal legally and harshly with criminals like this. 50 years in prison should make him pretty unthreatening to the general public. Let this be a lesson to his white supremacist honchos!!!

  3. Tom Kissner said,

    on July 1st, 2010 at 12:44 pm

    Until this case, recent trials of persons accused of killing immigrants haven’t received convictions comensurate with the severity of the crimes. For example, in a recent case, a young man was convicted of manslaughter. “Manslaughter?” If I were to stick a knife into another person’s body several times, a pretty good case could be made that I was trying to kill him.

  4. cindy hawkins-legorreta said,

    on July 1st, 2010 at 1:24 pm

    I believe it was Martin Luther King who said, ‘justice delayed is justice denied.” And to my mind, that can refer to a victim, a cause, or a defendant. In this case, the just and timely prosecution and sentencing of a person who acted in hate, in the most extreme way. Not by waving his fist and shouting a curse or racial slur, but in attacking two innocent persons from another ethnic group and culture because they ‘looked gay’. Cultural misunderstandings and plain stupidity can fuel crimes like this as well: it is common in South American and Latin cultures for a man, while walking down the street to throw his arm around the other, in friendship. That gesture, seemed to be one of brotherly concern, and perhaps the first man was assisting his more inebriated companion. But no excuse can be accepted, no justification made for what took place. As an English teacher, I continually stress cultural awareness to all my students and ask them to be respectful of the ways in which language, body or spoken are used, and how they differ from one national group to the next. Perhaps laying the groundwork for more sensitivity and, opening dialogue between racial/ethnic groups is a key. I am an instructor who believes strongly: education can be a deterrent to violence. It is too late for the young man who was killed. Killed by ignorance, no question. But what can we learn from this terrible episode – and, is it possible to better educate our young people, who in time, will go on to create more inclusive, compassionate, caring communities? I fervently hope so.

  5. Jerry Avins said,

    on July 1st, 2010 at 2:08 pm

    Keith Phoenix and his partner in crime believed that their victim was gay. I wonder what part xenophobia played.

  6. Lewis Loflin said,

    on July 1st, 2010 at 7:32 pm

    Did the other stupid people that commented here even check the facts?

    The racist SPLC along with the New York Times and much of the rest of the press hid the race of the felons in this story to implicate whites when they had nothing to do with it.

    Second this man was one of the thousands of victims of Hispanic and black criminals in New York, but was singled out only to make political points about illegal aliens.

    The hate crime convictions were based not even on race, but claims they thought the victim and his brother were gay.

    Talk about useful idiots.

  7. Lewis Loflin said,

    on July 1st, 2010 at 7:34 pm

    Go read this:

    http://topics.nytimes.com/top/.....ne=nyt-per

  8. Brian said,

    on July 10th, 2010 at 11:59 am

    According to http://topics.nytimes.com/top/.....ne=nyt-per , “Prosecutors have said that Mr. Phoenix and his co-defendant, Hakim Scott, severely beat Mr. Sucuzhañay and his brother Romel Sucuzhañay because they were Hispanic and mistakenly believed they were gay. Mr. Scott was found guilty of first-degree manslaughter on May 6, 2010. He faces up to 40 years in prison.”

    “…up to 40 years….” isn’t enough for a murderous hate crime. They should have at least received life without parole.

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