November 6, 2007
Only Sandy Killer Accused of Physical Violence Plea-Bargains Out of Life Sentence
Reports the New York Times:
Last Defendant Is Guilty in Attack on a Gay Man
In a case that has drawn intense scrutiny to the legal meaning of hatred, the last of four young men charged with selecting a gay man as a robbery target and chasing him to his death in traffic pleaded guilty yesterday to manslaughter and attempted robbery as hate crimes.
The defendant, Ilya Shurov, 21, agreed to serve 17 1/2 years in prison. In exchange, prosecutors dropped charges of felony murder as a hate crime, which could have meant a life sentence.
“If there was no life sentence,” said a defense lawyer, Hermann P. Walz, “we would have rolled the dice.”
. . .
One defendant, Gary Timmins, 17, pleaded guilty to attempted robbery as a hate crime and accepted a sentence of four years in exchange for testifying against his friends. Two others, Anthony Fortunato, 21, and John Fox, 20, were accused of selecting Mr. Sandy as a robbery target. They were convicted of manslaughter and attempted robbery as hate crimes last month in a joint trial before separate juries. They are scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 20.
. . .
Of the four defendants, only Mr. Shurov was accused of physical violence. In the first trial, witnesses said he had hidden behind a dune, run out, thrown punches, chased Mr. Sandy in front of a moving car on the Belt Parkway and then rifled his pockets. …
. . .
“He might have had a reasonable chance of beating the hate crime, but he had less of a chance of beating felony murder,” Mr. Walz said. “He’s definitely culpable of the actual death. His actions, more than anybody else, caused this person to die.”
The only one accused of physical violence, and he got off with a plea bargain?
There ain’t no justice.
Well, at least one more scumbag is off the streets for a while. Too bad he’ll probably be paroled well before 17-1/2 years are through.
Too bad Shurov’s lawyer didn’t “roll the dice.”
Filed under: Hate Crimes, New York
