BROOKLYN: 37 Years In Prison For Both Anti-Gay Hate Crime Killers

Hakim Scott and Keith Phoenix were both sentenced to 37 years in prison today for the anti-gay and anti-Hispanic murder of Ecuadorean immigrant Jose Sucuzhanay, who was viciously beaten to death with an aluminum baseball bat last year because the two killers mistakenly thought Sucuzhanay and his brother were gay.

The two victims were drunkenly walking home with their arms around each other in Brooklyn when the killers leaped out of their car screaming "faggots!" and anti-Hispanic slurs and began raining blows down on their heads with the bat. (Jose's brother survived.) Surveillance cameras caught the killers laughing and smiling minutes later as they drove through a toll booth. Aside from its repugnant nature, the case is notable because it brought together NYC's immigrant and LGBT communities in large joint protests. My favorite sign held by a young weeping lesbian read: "We Are ALL Jose!"