The defendants, Jeffrey Conroy in front (AP, James Carbone)

Yesterday in court a Long Island teen candidly described the much-talked about but little-understood practice of "beaner hopping" that led to the hate crime death of Ecuadorean immigrant Marcelo Lucero. “It’s when you go out and you look for a Hispanic to beat up,” 19-year-old Nicholas Hausch told a packed courtroom, recalling several sprees of name-calling, BB-gun shooting and beating. In his testimony, Hausch testified that his friend Jeffrey Conroy told him he'd stabbed Lucero, reports CityRoom. “Imagine if I get away with this,” the Swastika-tatooed teen allegedly boasted to his peers.

On a Friday night in November 2008 Hausch said he drove to Patchogue with two friends and a BB gun, using it to shoot a Hispanic man on his porch. On Saturday they went out with a larger crew, this time stopping the vehicle to yell "beaner" and "Mexican" at a man on a bike. After punching and kicking him, Hausch revealed that he took the victim's baseball cap "as a trophy." In the parking lot of the train station they found their next targets, who yelled back when the slurs began. After a teen punched him in the face, one man—Lucero—started swinging his belt at them. Hausch told the court he started walking off but at that moment, Conroy approached, telling him they had to go. “That’s when he told me that he stabbed him,” said the witness.

Lucero later died, and it's possible that Conroy will be sentenced to life in prison. As for Hausch, he's pleaded guilty to lesser charges and though he's one of the first to tell the story in any detail, he didn't offer any justification for his actions and wasn't asked if he felt remorse. Four others from his gang have pleaded guilty, and two more who've pleaded not guilty will take the stand soon.