Two men who killed an Ecuadorean immigrant on a Brooklyn street in December 2008 were each sentenced today. Prosecutors had said that Keith Phoenix and Hakim Scott brutally beat Jose Sucuzhanay because they thought he was gay (Sucuzhanay was walking arm-in-arm with his brother) and yelled anti-Hispanic and anti-gay epithets during the attack. Phoenix got 37 years to life (25 years for murder as a hate crime, plus 12 years for attempted assault as a hate crime), while Scott received 37 years (25 years for manslaughter and 12 years for attempted assault). more ›

Yesterday, a jury took seven hours to convict a man of second degree murder as a hate crime and attempted assault as a hate crime in the killing of an Ecuadorean immigrant in December 2008. Keith Phoenix, whose previous trial ended in mistrial, now faces life in prison. more ›

Yesterday, after a Brooklyn jury said it could not deliberate any further, a judge called a mistrial in the case of a man accused of killing an Ecuadorean immigrant. Keith Phoenix had pleaded not guilty to second degree murder, manslaughter, assault, criminal possession of a weapon and hate crime charges related to the death of Jose Sucuzhanay, who Phoenix admitted to fatally striking with a baseball bat while allegedly calling him racial and homophobic epithets. One juror explained, "We hated to go all this way and not have a verdict. Believe me, there was a lot of crying in that jury room, a lot of arguing. It was just one stubborn, selfish woman." more ›

Yesterday, a jury found Hakim Scott guilty of manslaughter in the 2008 fatal beating of an Ecuadorean immigrant. Prosecutors Scott and his friend Keith Phoenix attacked Jose Sucuzhanay and his brother because they thought the brothers were gay, since they were holding hands while walking down a Brooklyn street. Scott, who was acquitted of hate crime charges as well as murder, faces up to 40 years in prison. more ›

Nearly a year and a half after Jose Sucuzhanay was fatally beaten in Brooklyn, his accused killers are on trial. Prosecutors said that Keith Scott and Hakim Phoenix mistook Sucuzhanay and his brother for a gay couple (the brothers were tipsy) and shouted gay and racial epithets at them. Prosecutor Joshua Hanshaft said that Phoenix actually returned to deliver the final, fatal blows: Phoenix beat Sucuzhany "over and over again with the bat held high above his head... Jose tried to get up... and (Phoenix) came back with the bat and beat him two to three times on the head, cracking his skull wide open." more ›

Jury selection starts today for the trial of Hakim Scott and Keith Phoenix, who are accused of fatally beating Jose Sucuzhanay in Brooklyn last year. Police say Scott and Phoenix beat Sucuzhanay (pictured), an Ecuadorian immigrant who owned a real estate agency, because they thought he was gay (anti-gay and anti-Hispanic epithets were allegedly yelled), when he was really just tipsy and walking arm-in-arm with his brother. Cops also say Phoenix confessed ("So I killed someone—that makes me a bad guy?"), claiming self-defense. Scott recently turned down a plea deal for 18 years, insisting, "I didn't kill nobody." more ›

The police announced the arrest of Keith Phoenix, the second suspect in the murder of an Ecuadorian immigrant late last year. The NYPD had released a photo of Phoenix taken at the RFK Bridge toll, "giggling to his heart's content - just 19 minutes after he allegedly beat a man to death with a baseball bat," and offered a $22,000 reward. His suspected accomplice, Hakim Scott, turned himself in on Wednesday. The suspects attacked the late Jose Sucuzhañay and his brother Romel when they saw them walking arm-in-arm along Bushwick Avenue and believed that they were homosexuals. more ›

Mayor Bloomberg met with the family of Jose Sucuzhanay yesterday, and later told reporters, "I pledged to do everything I could in my power to find and to prosecute the despicable people who carried out this act." Sucuzhanay, an Ecuadorian immigrant, was brutally beaten by a group of men who had yelled anti-gay and anti-Hispanic epithets at him and his brother (they were arm-in-arm early from Saturday morning) over a week ago and died this past weekend. The Daily News reports Bloomberg also said, "Unfortunately, this atmosphere is occasionally shattered by dangerous acts of bigotry that undermine our fight to live in peace and security." more ›

Brooklyn real estate agency owner Jose Sucuzhany, who was brutally beaten last week, died yesterday. Sucuzhanay had been declared brain dead last week but, the NY Times reports, his "kept him on life support in anticipation of his mother’s arrival, but on Friday, his heart stopped." more ›

Authorities and activists are offering a $27,000 reward for information leading to the arrests and convictions in the brutal beating of an Ecuadorian immigrant. A waiter turned business owner, Jose Sucuzhanay was walking in Bushwick, arm in arm with his brother because they were drunk. A group of men yelled anti-gay, as well as anti-Hispanic, epithets at them and used an aluminum bat and broken bottle to beat Sucuzhanay, who was declared brain dead but remains on life support (his family is awaiting his parents). WCBS 2 reports, "It's a black-on-Hispanic hate crime that has alarmed leaders from both groups. " The Reverend Herbert Daughtry, who contributed to the reward money, said, "It is profoundly painful. I don't know what the reasons are. People just motivated by hatred, by a sense of despair." The incident, already considered a hate crime, is now being treated as a homicide. more ›