Yesterday, a Long Island judge sentence four teenagers to prison sentences for their role in the hate crime attack on Marcelo Lucero, an Ecuadorean immigrant who died from the 2008 stabbing. The teens said they had gone "beaner hopping," and the incident highlighted racial tensions in Patchogue and Suffolk County. The AP reports, "Anthony Hartford, Jordan Dasch and Jose Pacheco, all 19, had each pleaded guilty to gang assault, conspiracy and attempted assault as a hate crime" and received seven year sentences while Christopher Overton, who also pleaded guilty to those charges, received six years. Pacheco said to Lucero's family, "I shouldn't ask for mercy. God knows what I did was wrong." In May, Jeffrey Conroy was sentenced to 25 years for manslaughter as a hate crime for killing Lucero. more ›

Jeffrey Conroy, the Long Island teen who was convicted of manslaughter as a hate crime for fatally stabbing an Ecuadorean immigrant in 2008, was sentenced to 25 years in prison yesterday. His father raged at the at the sentence, running out of the courtroom and yelling, "He was f---ing 17. This is mercy for crying out loud? Jesus, f---ing, Christ! Jesus Christ!" more ›

Jeffrey Conroy, the swastika-tattooed 19-year-old found guilty of manslaughter for killing an Ecuadorian immigrant, is showing remorse for his crimes, and his family says he's actually a stand up guy. According to them he has lots of Hispanic friends, listens to hip hop and is even dating a Bolivian girl. more ›

Yesterday, a jury found a 19-year-old guilty of manslaughter as a hate crime for the 2008 stabbing death of an Ecuadorian immigrant. Jeffrey Conroy, who was acquitted of second-degree murder, will face a minimum of eight years in prison and a maximum of 25 years for killing Marcelo Lucero, during what Conroy's friends described as "beaner hopping," when they would target Hispanics for beatings and other attacks. Jury members said that they didn't believe Conroy's claim that another teen killed Lucero. Juror Linda Giani said, "It was extremely emotional. You have a young boy's life in your hands. You also have the family that's grieving for the loss of a son." more ›

A Long Island jury found Jeffrey Conroy, 19, guilty of first-degree manslaughter as a hate crime for the 2008 stabbing of Ecuadorian immigrant Marcelo Lucero. Conroy and his friend were allegedly "beaner hopping" and had been on a weeklong hate crime spree. While he was found not guilty of murder as a hate crime, Conroy, who claimed one of his friends actually killed Lucero, was found guilty of first-degree gang assault. According to Newsday (subscription required), he faces a "maximum of 25 years and a minimum of 8 years." Six of Conroy's co-defendants are still awaiting trial; four of them who testified against him pleaded guilty to gang assault while the other two pleaded not guilty. more ›

Jeffrey Conroy, the 19-year-old Long Island resident accused of killing immigrant Marcelo Lucero (pictured) in a 2008 hate crime attack, told a courtroom today that he was just holding a knife for the real killer: "[Christopher Overton] said, ‘Jeff, I think I just stabbed the guy in the shoulder. I really cannot get in trouble with this. Can you please take the knife?’" Newsday reports that the judge allowed the testimony because it would allow the jury insight into Conroy's "state of mind" but he told jurors not to weigh the "truth or falsity" of the testimony. Conroy, who faces charges including second-degree murder and first-degree manslaughter as hate crime, also said he lied to police in his statement confessing the crime. more ›

Yesterday the lead detective investigating the death of Marcelo Lucero testified that then-18-year-old Jeffrey Conroy signed a statement saying he'd stabbed the Ecuadorean immigrant. Det. John McLeer questioned the teen just hours after the crime occurred in 2008, reports the Times, and is expected to be the last witness to take the stand in the Long Island hate crime case. He's the third person to claim that Conroy stated he stabbed 37-year-old Lucero, after going out with friends looking for Hispanics to terrorize. A lawyer for the boy—who's pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder as a hate crime and first-degree manslaughter—claimed he told friends the stabbing was an accident. To that the detective responded, "I believe a person's actions speak their intent."
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With six other Long Island teens facing lesser charges, Jeffrey Conroy is accused in the brutal hate crime stabbing of Marcelo Luero, but his friend Will Garcia—an acquaintance of the victim—is on his side. In recent weeks prosecutors have pointed to Conroy's prison-style Swastika tattoo as an indicator of his racist ideology, but Garcia, who like Lucero is from Ecuador, told the Times, “How’s he going to be a white supremacist if he chills with Spanish people and he chills with black people? He’s my friend. He’s been there for me. I’ve been there for him. He wasn’t a racist.” more ›

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. more ›

Seven Long Island teens are accused in the fatal beating of Ecuadorean immigrant Marcelo Lucero, but one has been singled out as the killer. Nineteen-year-old Nicholas Hausch took the stand today testifying against Jeffrey Conroy, the only one of the boys accused of murder and manslaughter as a hate crime, according to the AP. "[Conroy] told me he stabbed him," Hausch said in court, remembering how his friend refused to dispose of the bloody weapon. more ›

During jury selection for a Long Island hate crime—in which an Ecuadorean man was stabbed to death by seven teenagers—numerous potential jurors were only too happy to identify themselves as racially biased. Many cited a conservative stance on immigration as evidence they couldn’t make a fair decision in the killing of an illegal resident. As one prospective juror after another was dismissed, the scene may have reflected more about the community than about the case. One, who was dismissed for other reasons, said, “I don’t care whether the man was legal, illegal, white, black, purple or green. There was a murder. It almost seemed like the poor victim was the one going on trial.” more ›

Police are investigating whether a robbery in the town of Patchogue over the weekend was another instance of a hate crime in the town where an Ecuadorian immigrant was allegedly murdered by a group of teenagers last November. The Hispanic man was walking on a street in the Long Island town just before midnight on Friday night when he was approached by three young white men. As they knocked him to the ground while stealing cash and other items, police say that "disparaging remarks were made about the victim's ancestry." Patchogue Mayor Paul Pontieri told reporters, "It's distressing that it happened at all. Who knows why and who knows the circumstances? I don't know yet." After a group of teens were charged in the beating death of Ecuadorian immigrant Marcelo Lucero (pictured), the Justice Department launched an investigation into accusations that Hispanic immigrants were being terrorized in the town for months. Some said that the victims' pleas had originally fallen on deaf ears with Suffolk County police. more ›

Yesterday, the Suffolk County DA's office said that a group of teens, already charged with fatally beating a Hispanic man to death last November, had been on a 13-month-long "hate spree," targeting and terrorizing Latinos. DA Thomas Spota said, "All of the defendants participated in what we consider to be a violent and racially driven pastime" and Newsday detailed some of the crimes:

Last July, at least two of the teens beat a Hispanic man unconscious, stealing his money and shoes. more ›

Two families mourned together in Ecuador yesterday, both having lost native sons to hate crimes that took place only a few dozen miles away from each other up here on the same island, but a hemisphere away from where they were born and are now buried. As hundreds gathered to pay their final respects to Jose Sucuzhañay, the man murdered in Bushwick last week, they were joined by relatives of Marcelo Lucero, who was murdered on Long Island last month. While teens have been arrested in Lucero's murder case, police are still searching for who was behind the attack on Sucuzhañay. His brother told the press, "I am thankful for the time that I had with my brother. This was a crime against all of us, it was a crime against humanity. May it never happen again." more ›

Another attack this week against two Hispanic man in the town of Patchogue in Suffolk County has been chalked up to local teens--possibly ones connected to "The Caucasian Crew," the gang arrested in conjunction with the murder of Ecuadorian Marcelo Lucero. Luis Pichu and Carlos Banegas (a friend of Lucero's from Ecuador) were surrounded by a group of teens Tuesday night, some with skinhead haircuts, who yelled that they wanted "to kill everybody, all Spanish people." And yet another man has come forward and accused two of the members of the group that was arrested in Lucero's attack and murder as being the assailants when he was allegedly beaten badly while riding home on a bicycle last fall. "These people are still out there - they're still hunting," Marcelo's brother Joselo Lucero told the Post. more ›

Before the stabbing attack that would claim their final victim, 37-year-old Ecuadorian immigrant Marcelo Lucero, the Long Island gang known as "The Caucasian Crew" had been out on "beaner jumping" missions for almost a week leading up to it. The Patchogue attacks included knocking one man unconscious after sucker punching him in the mouth and shooting another with a BB gun. Police believe that there are more victims as well who have not come forward out of fears for their safety. Earlier this week, charges against the Caucasian Crew ringleader, Jeffrey Conroy, who is accused of stabbing Lucero were upped from manslaughter to murder. more ›

Newsday reports Jeffrey Conroy, the teen who allegedly stabbed immigrant Marcelo Lucero to death, will now face the charge of murder as a hate crimes charge, upgraded from manslaughter as a hate crime. Conroy and six other teens involved in the attack on Lucero (prosecutors say they were specifically looking to "f--- up Mexicans") were also charged with conspiracy in Lucero's death and second-degree attempted assault related to another attack. Newsday also went to a parents' meeting at Patchogue-Medford High School, which the teens attend. While many spoke of healing the community, one parent yelled, "What are we doing to make sure the media doesn't grab our kids to be interviewed?" and then many parents screamed and confronted the Newsday reporter--who was escorted out even though she was given permission to attend. more ›

A grand jury indicted the seven teens accused of killing an immigrant in Patchogue. All face charges of gang assault as a hate crime--the teens were allegedly targeting Hispanics-- while one was also indicted on charges of manslaughter as a hate crime for fatally stabbing Marcelo Lucero. Last night, over a 1,000 people held a vigil to honor Lucero--and speak out about racism. According to Newsday, Stony Brook University's director of the Social Justice Center Ruth Brandwein said, "This is an unfortunate, terrible tragedy of racism and bigotry that has some roots here. It's time we in Suffolk acknowledge it and move on," while one El Salvadoran immigrant said Nassau County was more tolerant. Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy, whose hardline immigration policies prompted two recent editorials in the NY Times and Newsday, called the seven teens "white supremacists." One of the teens, Jose Pacheco, is Hispanic; his lawyer said, "Jose is distraught that some people think he committed a crime against another Hispanic." more ›