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!"

BROOKLYN: Jury Convicts Keith Phoenix In Hate Crime Murder Retrial

Justice was at last served yesterday in the hate crime murder retrial of Keith Phoenix (left), who in 2008 beat Ecuadorean immigrant Jose Sucuzhanay to death with a metal baseball bat as he screamed anti-gay and anti-Hispanic epithets. Last month a mistrial was declared when jurors could not agree on convicting Phoenix of murder or manslaughter. The second trial's jury saw things more clearly and deliberated for less than a day. Gay City News editor Paul Schindler reports:

The Brooklyn jury hearing the second trial of Keith Phoenix, the killer of José Sucuzhanay, convicted him of second-degree murder as a hate crime as well as attempted assault as a hate crime in the attack on Romel Sucuzhanay, José’s brother. “This verdict sent the right message,” said Diego Sucuzhanay, another of José’s brothers, after the jury announced its verdict at roughly 9:30 p.m. on June 28. “We believe that justice has been done for our brother.” Phoenix, 30, and Hakim Scott, 27, assaulted the brothers after mistaking them for a gay couple as they were walking home early in the morning on December 7, 2008 in Brooklyn’s Bushwick section. The two Ecuadorian immigrants were huddled close together to stay warm. Romel said an anti-Latino slur was used. Two other witnesses heard an anti-gay slur. Phoenix was convicted on the top counts he faced and could get as much as 40 years in prison for the killing when he is sentenced on August 5. His first trial ended in a mistrial after one juror held out for a manslaughter conviction while the other 11 wanted to convict on second-degree murder. The first jury did not believe the attack was a hate crime.

Last month Phoenix' accomplice in the attack, Hakim Scott, was convicted of manslaughter only and unbelievably, that jury dismissed hate crime charges. Both men will be sentenced next month.

Mistrial For Second Defendant In Brooklyn's Brutal Anti-Gay Murder Trial

The judge has declared a mistrial in the case of Keith Phoenix, who was on trial for the anti-gay, anti-Hispanic murder of Ecuadorean immigrant Jose Sucuzhanay. According to Phoenix's lawyer, the jury was deadlocked over convicting him of murder or manslaughter. The victim was beaten to death with a metal baseball bat in Brooklyn in late 2008 after Phoenix and another man mistakenly thought that he and his brother were gay lovers.

After more than three days of jury deliberations, a holdout juror prompted a mistrial Tuesday night in the hate crime trial of a Brooklyn man accused of beating an Ecuadorean immigrant to death. Keith Phoenix, in pale shirt, watched a taped police interview of himself, as did the jury, in court in Brooklyn on Tuesday. About 9 p.m. Tuesday, Justice Patricia M. DiMango of State Supreme Court in Brooklyn announced that the jury was hopelessly deadlocked in the case of Keith Phoenix, because one person on the panel refused to deliberate any further. “I can’t see any other action than to declare a mistrial at this time,” said Justice DiMango, who set a new trial date of June 15 before Mr. Phoenix, 30, was handcuffed and led out of the room. “I love you, baby,” Mr. Phoenix’s mother, Marietta Phoenix, called out to her son. “It was justice,” she later said.

"Justice," his mother said, despite the overwhelming evidence and the photo of Phoenix laughing about the crime minutes later as he drove through a toll booth. Equally unbelievable, last week Phoenix's accomplice was convicted only on a manslaughter charge, with no hate crime embellishment. The judge set a new trial date of June 15th for Keith Phoenix.

Sean Chapin - This Is Not A Hate Crime

JMG reader Sean Chapin reacts to yesterday's "not a hate crime" verdict in Brooklyn. Watch this. WATCH THIS.

OUTRAGE: Hate Crimes Charges Dismissed In Brooklyn Murder Of Jose Suzuchanay

Unbelievable. Hakim Scott, on trial for the brutal 2008 murder of Ecuadorean immigrant Jose Sucuzhanay, has been convicted of manslaughter only. The jury dismissed the hate crimes charge, despite overwhelming evidence that Scott and his accomplice screamed anti-gay and anti-Hispanic epithets as they beat Sucuzhanay to death with a metal baseball bat. The second jury is still deliberating the case of Scott's accomplice, Keith Phoenix.

Scott was accused of breaking the bottle over the head of Sucuzhanay as he walked arm-and-arm with his brother, Romel, on a cold night in Brooklyn. The brothers were returning home from a bar; Jose was drunk, and Romel was helping him walk. Prosecutors said Scott, 26, and Phoenix, 30, mistook the brothers for gay men, and yelled anti-Hispanic and anti-gay slurs at them. Scott smashed the bottle over Jose Sucuzhanay's head and chased after Romel with the broken bottle, while Phoenix beat Sucuzhanay with an aluminum baseball bat so badly he cracked open his skull, prosecutors said. Sucuzhanay died several days later at a hospital. Phoenix has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder, manslaughter and attempted assault, all as hate crimes. His jury began deliberations Thursday evening. Phoenix's defense attorney, Philip Smallman, said Thursday in closing arguments that the case was about a fight that escalated, not a premeditated attack.

New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn is livid. Via press release:

“I am outraged by the dismissal of hate crime charges in one of the most heinous acts of hate our city has witnessed in recent memory. It is incomprehensible to me that such violent acts of hate could receive a verdict of not guilty. Hakim Scott viciously attacked Jose Sucuzhanay while calling him derogatory names and stood by and watched while his fellow attacker, Keith Phoenix, beat Jose with a baseball bat. Jose was attacked simply because of who he was and who these two criminals perceived him to be. His attack was motivated and fueled by pure hatred. I urge all New Yorkers to join me in condemning this verdict, as we did when we originally learned of this attack.

"Justice was served with guilty verdicts on manslaughter and attempted assault charges. With these two charges combined, Hakim Scott faces up to forty years in prison. The fact is, however, that Mr. Scott has escaped serving any time for his vicious hate, hate that was at the heart of this horrible crime and murder. This is a sad day for the family of Jose Sucuzhanay and for all those who uphold and fight for tolerance and acceptance. I pledge to the Sucuzhanay family that our fight is not over and we will do all that we can to see Mr. Scott in jail for the rest of his life. We remain hopeful that Keith Phoenix will ultimately be found rightfully guilty in the hate charges he faces."

I just really cannot believe this. These monsters singled out the Suzuchanay brothers, thinking they were gay because they had their arms around each other. They then beat Jose to death while screaming "Faggot ass niggers!" at them. How the FUCK was this not a hate crime?

RELATED: My extensive coverage of the attack, the vigil, the memorial, and the trial can be found here.

Trial Underway In Brooklyn Anti-Gay Hate Crime Murder Case

In December 2008, Ecuadorian immigrant Jose Sucuzhanay (left) was brutally beaten to death with a baseball bat by two men who mistakenly thought that Sucuzhanay and his brother were gay lovers. The case gained international attention and brought together LGBT and immigrant right groups for massive protests at the scene of the murder in Brooklyn. The two murderers are now on trial and Duncan Osbourne at Gay City News provides a chilling recounting of the testimony of a cab driver witness.

“I didn’t want to see the head explode when it was hit,” said Davi Almonte, who testified through an interpreter on April 20. “I could hear the impact.” [snip] “The one that came out hit him with a bottle on the head,” Almonte said, adding that the man who was hit “went down to the floor.” He then saw another man strike José “around seven, eight times” with a bat. “Did you see either brother fighting back at that time?” asked Josh Hanshaft, an assistant district attorney who is prosecuting the case along with Patricia M. McNeill, also an assistant district attorney. “No,” Almonte said.

One of the assailants reportedly called the brothers "faggot ass niggers" as he beat them. The second brother survived. Both of the men on trial face 78 years to life in prison for murder as a hate crime. My complete archive on the attack is here.

Anti-Gay Murderers Face 78 Years To Life

The murderers of Jose Sucuzhanay were charged yesterday with second degree murder with hate crimes enhancements and may get from 78 years to life in prison.

The two men accused of fatally beating an Ecuadorean immigrant with a bat and a bottle after shouting epithets about Hispanics and gays face 78 years to life in prison if convicted on charges handed up by a Brooklyn grand jury and unsealed on Tuesday. The two suspects, Keith Phoenix, 28, and Hakim Scott, 25, are charged with second-degree murder, manslaughter and assault, all as hate crimes, for the Dec. 7 attack on the immigrant, Jose O. Sucuzhañay, and his brother Romel, who survived. At a news conference in Brooklyn announcing the charges, the Brooklyn district attorney, Charles J. Hynes, said that if the men are convicted, his office would push for the sentences to run consecutively. “The acts which we charge this morning,” he said, “are no less despicable because the victims Jose and Romel Sucuzhañay were not gay.”

Newly released details of the attack reveal that the incident began when one brother wrapped his coat around the other to shield him from the cold.

Homophobic Murderer: "So I Killed Someone. That Makes Me A Bad Guy?"

Confessed killer Keith Phoenix is now claiming that his murder of Jose Sucuzhanay was done in self-defense in a street fight "gone bad" and that he doesn't hate gays.

He has been called a monstrous murderer, filled with bias and hate, but in a jailhouse interview on Sunday, Keith Phoenix blamed his Latino victim - and insisted he has nothing against gays. "I'm not a killer. I never expected anyone to die," said Phoenix, who claims Jose Sucuzhanay, the Ecuadoran immigrant he admits beating with a bat, had a gun. "I had to protect myself," he said, sitting in a visiting room on Rikers Island, where he is being held on charges of second-degree murder as a hate crime. Dressed in a tattered gray prison jumpsuit, Phoenix told a story that varies wildly from the account given by cops, community leaders and the victim's brother.

Phoenix claims that Sucuzhanay had a gun, something the police dispute. The NYPD reports that upon his arrest, Phoenix said, "So I killed someone. That makes me a bad guy?"

2nd Suspect Nabbed In Sucuzhanay Case

One day after local TV stations played toll booth surveillance video showing him laughing and joking minutes after committing a brutal anti-gay murder, Keith Phoenix has been arrested for the killing of Ecuadorean immigrant Jose Sucuzhanay. Phoenix's accomplice was captured and confessed on Wednesday. Sucuzhanay was beaten to death with an aluminum baseball bat after being mistaken for gay because he was arm in arm with his brother.

Arrest Made In Anti-Gay Murder Of Jose Sucazhanay, NYPD Gets Confession

Late Wednesday night, Mayor Bloomberg announced that the NYPD has made an arrest in the brutal murder of Ecuadorean immigrant Jose Sucuzhanay (left), who was beaten to death in Brooklyn two months ago when assailants mistook Jose and his brother for gay lovers because they were walking arm in arm. Hakeem Scott, 25, has confessed to the murder, but his accomplice is still at large.

Police are looking for his alleged accomplice, Keith Phoenix [Below right]. Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said his detectives were able to make the bust thanks to good old fashioned police work. They tracked a Ford Explorer witnesses at the scene described. Not long after the attack surveillance video from the Triboro Bridge toll plaza showed Phoenix and Scott in an Explorer driving to their homes in the Bronx. Witnesses helped police track down the SUV, and through a prior accident report Phoenix was identified as a suspect and then linked to Scott, Kelly said. The investigation eventually led them to Scott, who has a lengthy rap sheet, including arrests for assault, robbery and weapons possession. Scott was apprehended without incident near his residence on East 161st Street in the Bronx on Tuesday.

As you may recall, I covered this horrible story extensively and attended the memorial march and vigil for Jose in Brooklyn. We should all congratulate the NYPD for their diligent work. And we should also thank the leaders of NYC's LGBT and immigrant activism groups for working together on this case to demand swift justice. Mayor Bloomberg: "In this city there is no such thing as a second-class citizen. There is one and only one standard of justice for all New Yorkers, immigrant and native-born. Anyone who commits a hate crime, we will not rest until we arrest them."

Ecuador President Vows To Fight Homophobia

In the wake of the Brooklyn murder of Ecuadorean immigrant Jose Sucuzhanay, Ecuadorian president Rafael Correa has vowed to fight against homophobia and xenophobia. Andres Duque at Blabbeando provides a translation of Correa's statement:

The Ecuadorean immigrant José Sucuzhañay, of 31 years of age, was "vilely assassinated for xenophobic reasons, for homophobia; They mistook him for a homosexual and was with his brother" as they walked in Brooklyn, New York, said Correa. "We will fight together ... to forever uproot these aberrations of certain maladjusted [individuals], uproot them from the face of the earth, from humanity: Xenophobia, homophobia and all kinds of discrimination, all kinds of violence," he said.

Duque notes that while one of Jose's brothers had denied that anti-gay slurs were used against his brother, another brother echoed Correa's statement at Jose's funeral in Ecuador.

"My heart is broken and so is that of all my family," his brother German said during a funeral Mass in the cathedral of the southern town of Cuenca. Sucuzhanay's coffin was scattered with roses and covered with the Ecuadorean flag. "The brutal killing of my brother Osvaldo is the result of xenophobia, of homophobia and racism that our compatriots are experiencing in these times," he said, calling on Ecuador's government to demand that U.S. authorities solve the crime.

There was some initial concern that the family was backing away from the homophobic aspect of the crime, but every speaker at the vigil I attended clearly stressed that Sucuzhanay's murder had been an anti-gay hate crime. However many early press reports did not mention the anti-gay slurs used by the attackers.

Hundreds Turn Out At Brooklyn Vigil For Jose Sucuzhanay, Murdered Victim Of Anti-Latino, Anti-Gay Hate Crime

Hundreds of New Yorkers turned out yesterday for the memorial vigil for Jose Sucuzhanay, the Ecuadorian immigrant who was beaten to death with an aluminum baseball bat last week because his attackers thought he and his brother were homosexuals. The event was covered by over a dozen television crews from local, national, and Hispanic news channels, as well as print reporters and radio teams from NYC and Spanish-language radio stations.

Among those that spoke to the crowd were NYC Council Speaker Christine Quinn, openly gay NY State Sen. Tom Duane, U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner, Kings County (Brooklyn) District Attorney Charles Hynes, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, and leaders from a broad array of LGBT, Latino, and immigrant activist groups. The message underscored over and over again, in both English and Spanish, was that hate speech has consequences - and that the murder of Jose Sucuzhanay was the inevitable and tragic result of the nonstop villainization of LGBT and immigrant communities by the right wing of this country.

After rallying in a small park in central Bushwick, Brooklyn, a NYPD escort led the hundreds of protesters down the street to the scene of the attack. A $27,000 reward has been offered for information leading to the arrest of perpetrators. For full-screen versions of my photographs in the above slideshow, go here.

Today: Jose Sucuzhanay Memorial

On Friday, hours before his mother arrived from Ecuador, Jose Sucuzhanay's heart stopped and he was declared dead.

An Ecuadorean immigrant who was brutally beaten with a bottle and baseball bat last week by men said to be shouting anti-gay and anti-Hispanic slurs has died, a family spokesman said on Saturday night. Three Sucuzhanay brothers — from left, Romel, Diego and Pedro — last week leaving Elmhust Hospital Center in Queens, where Jose Sucuzhanay had been on life support.

The victim, Jose O. Sucuzhanay, died on Friday night at Elmhurst Hospital Center as his mother was traveling from Ecuador to see him one last time, said the family spokesman, Francisco Moya. Mr. Sucuzhanay’s family had kept him on life support in anticipation of his mother’s arrival, but on Friday, his heart stopped. In a statement on Saturday night, Mr. Sucuzhanay’s brother Diego said he was “at a loss beyond words” at his brother’s death, which the police are investigating as a hate crime. The police were still looking for Mr. Sucuzhanay’s assailants, but said that detectives had been investigating the attack as homicide, a law enforcement official said. Mr. Sucuzhanay, who suffered skull fractures and massive brain damage, was declared brain-dead on Tuesday, and a death certificate was filed last week.

A memorial march and vigil for Jose Sucuzhanay takes place at 2pm today in Bushwick, Brooklyn at the scene of attack. Facebook link here. You can also find details in my post here. NYC Council Speaker Christine Quinn, and representatives from the Human Rights Campaign, the NYC Anti-Violence Project, the NAACP, the NYCLU, the NYC Immigration Coalition and other LGBT and Latino groups will attend. I'l be there too, I encourage you all to attend.

Sunday 2PM: Jose Sucuzhanay Vigil

The memorial vigil for Jose Sucuzhanay, the victim of Saturday's brutal anti-gay, anti-Latino attack in Brooklyn, will take place Sunday at 2pm at the scene of the hate crime. Facebook link here. Let's hope the "gays don't get beaten up enough" crowd has taken notice. Embiggen the image for instructions.

Police Release Sketch Of Suspect In Brooklyn Attack

Contrary to widely published reports yesterday, the more seriously injured brother of the two attacked in Brooklyn is not dead, but he has been found to have no brain function. The New York Times has amended the story I linked yesterday.

Today the NYPD released the sketch at left in the hopes the public can identify the assailants.

Police have released a sketch of one of four suspects of an Ecuadorean man left brain dead after a savage beating in Brooklyn, where attackers hurled anti-gay and anti-Hispanic slurs. At a news conference yesterday afternoon, the family of Jose Sucuzhanay, 31, said they still held out hope.

"He's not dead," Diego Sucuzhanay, one of his five brothers, said at Elmhurst Hospital Center in Queens, where Jose had been listed in critical condition yesterday after surgery. "There are some decisions that need to be taken," he continued. "We are brothers and we do not have the power to make that decision." Sucuzhanay's parents are in Ecuador .

But a law enforcement source said the case is being investigated as a homicide and Sucuzhanay has been declared brain dead. The Associated Press said he had been taken off life support, according to a law enforcement source.

Community leaders and city politicians called for the attackers' swift arrests. Sucuzhanay suffered severe head trauma in the 3:30 a.m. beating Sunday in Bushwick. Police yesterday asked for help in locating one suspect, described as a male about 6 feet tall and between 18 and 20 years old, wearing a dark baseball cap, a black leather jacket, dark jeans and boots. A $22,000 reward is also offered for information leading to the attackers' arrest. Police asked the public to call 800-577-TIPS.

There will be a candlelight vigil at the scene of the attack on Sunday at 8pm.

Killed Because They Thought He Was Gay

One of the two brothers attacked in Brooklyn yesterday has died of his injuries. He was beaten to death with a baseball bat because the attackers thought he and his brother were lovers.

The two brothers from Ecuador had attended a church party and had stopped at a bar afterward. They may have been a bit tipsy as they walked home in the dead of night, arm-in-arm, leaning close to each other, a common tableau of men in Latino cultures, but one easily misinterpreted by the biased mind. Suddenly a car drew up. It was 3:30 a.m. Sunday, and the intersection of Bushwick Avenue and Kossuth Place in Bushwick, Brooklyn, a half-block from the brothers’ apartment, was nearly deserted — but not quite. Witnesses, the police said, heard some of what happened next.

Three men came out of the car shouting at the brothers, Jose and Romel Sucuzhanay — something ugly, anti-gay and anti-Latino. Vulgarisms against Hispanics and gay men were heard by witnesses, the police said. One man approached Jose Sucuzhanay, 31, the owner of a real estate agency who has been in New York a decade, and broke a beer bottle over the back of his head. He went down hard.

Romel Sucuzhanay, 38, who is visiting from Ecuador on a two-month visa, bounded over a parked car and ran as the man with the broken bottle came at him. A distance away, he looked back and saw a second assailant beating his prone brother with an aluminum baseball bat, striking him repeatedly on the head and body. The man with the broken bottle turned back and joined the beating and kicking. “They used a baseball bat,” said Diego Sucuzhanay, another brother. “I guess the goal was to kill him.”

After the attack, the murderers (described by police as a group of black men) fled the scene in a Honda SUV. Yesterday NYC Council Speaker Christine Quinn and a large group of Hispanic and gay rights activists gathered at City Hall to decry the attack.

“This won’t be tolerated,” Christine C. Quinn, the City Council speaker, said at a news conference on Monday on the steps of City Hall that drew dozens of public officials and leaders of civil rights groups. “We cannot and we will not let hate go unchecked in our city.”

The condemnations were amplified by Council members Diana Reyna, Rosie Mendez, Merlissa Mark-Viverito, G. Oliver Koppell, David Yassky, Miguel Martinez, Gale A. Brewer, Daniel R. Garodnick, David I. Weprin and Letitia James; by Representative Nydia M. Valazquez, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, State Senator Tom Duane, Assemblywoman Carmen E. Arroyo, officials of the New York City Central Labor Council, the NYC Gay and Lesbian Anti-Violence Project, and by Jewish, Catholic and Protestant leaders.

A spokesman for Charles J. Hynes, the Brooklyn district attorney, said the prosecutor was “shocked and appalled by this senseless, bigoted, brutal act,” and vowed to bring the perpetrators to justice. Because of the antigay and anti-Latino epithets shouted by the assailants, the police said they were investigating the case as a hate crime.

I will follow this case closely and advise on developments. There will likely be a joint candlelight vigil put on by immigrant, Hispanic, and LGBT rights groups. I'll advise on the time and location of that event as soon as it's known.

UPDATE: JMG reader Jeffrey sends us the details on a candlelight vigil to take place this Sunday at the scene of the attack. There may be other remembrances, I'll add those to this post when I hear about them.

CANDLELIGHT VIGIL FOR A BUSHWICK HATE CRIME - Sunday, December 14th. Meet in front of The Archive café at 49 Bogart Street (at Seigel and Bogart) at 7pm. We will walk to the scene of the crime at Bushwick Ave. and Kossuth Place and have a few moments of silence at 8pm. Please bring extra candles. And, spread the word!