September 28, 2007
Detective Takes Stand in Hate Crime Murder Trial
Detective Christopher Cennamo of the 61st Precinct Detective Squad took the stand yesterday in the hate crime murder trial of John Fox and Anthony Fortunato, both 21, who face murder charges in connection with the death of Michael Sandy.
. . .
After the NYPD’s technical squad retrieved an address book from the cell phone, Cennamo was able to call Sandy’s parents, eventually leading them to an apartment where police discovered Sandy had left his computer on.
That detail would prove key to breaking the case. …
. . .
Defense attorneys Gary DiChiara and John Patten had not gotten a chance to question Cennamo by the time state Supreme Court Justice Jill Konviser’s call for a recess concluded yesterday’s morning session. …
. . .
Testimony is expected to continue this morning in the ceremonial courtroom at Brooklyn Supreme Court.
See also:
Suspect sought ‘gay guys to rob’
Defense Takes On Hate Crime Tag
Judge Rules 3 Can Be Charged With Hate Crimes
Gay-slay suspects can’t beat hate rap
Suspect Said to Have Joked About Attack on Gay Man
DA’s Case Emerges in Sandy Murder
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September 22, 2007
We need salvation from this greedy army
The Salvation Army is perhaps the most overrated organization in America. Everyone gets a warm fuzzy seeing their bell ringers outside the Wal-Mart at Christmastime. Woe to anyone who dares to point out that this band of right-wingers in uniforms are just homophobic religious fundamentalist adept at tapping the public purse.
Everyone knows the Salvation Army provides a lot of social services — often with our tax dollars. So the Army operates as a government contractor and thus must meet certain laws and regulations, right? Not quite. Even as its leaders continue to seek taxpayer handouts, the Army demands the right to be free from oversight and regulations that apply to any other social-service agency. It New York City, Army officials demanded and won the right to fire gay people and suspected gay people, even though those folks were working in jobs that were not religious in nature.
Now the Army is at it again. It owns an apartment building in New York City that has for years provided affordable housing for single women. The building is located in a tony Manhattan neighborhood, and someone got the bright idea that the building could be sold and turned into luxury condos, netting the Army a ton of money. All the Salvation Army had to do was evict all of those women.
But wait a minute. New York has strict laws dealing with tenant rights. You can’t just throw people out on the street. So what did the Salvation Army do? It argued in court that, since it is a religious organization, it can do whatever it wants. …
More from The Carpetbagger Report
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September 13, 2007
Bay Windows reports:
Tedeschi Food Shops fired a clerk from the convenience store chain’s Jamaica Plain location in response to a complaint from a lesbian couple that the clerk harassed them and refused to serve them. …
. . .
Sandra Rodrigues and her girlfriend, Stephanie Perez, were wandering down Centre Street after an evening at J.P. Licks when they stopped into Tedeschi’s so Perez could buy a juice drink. Rodrigues told Bay Windows that as they stepped into the checkout line she wrapped her arms around Perez’s waist and they both swayed to the music playing on the store’s sound system. When the clerk noticed them Rodrigues said he began shouting at them from behind the counter.
“He points to us. He says, ‘You two, get out of the store. You’re acting as if you’re in a pornography film. I’m not going to service you,’” said Rodrigues.
. . .
[A heterosexual couple in line behind them] were also being physically affectionate, holding hands and resting their heads against each other. Rodrigues said the clerk made no effort to break up that couple or eject them from the store, and she said she jokingly told the couple, “You’re not allowed to do that.”
. . .
Rodrigues said the straight couple behind them offered to buy the juice for them, but the clerk refused to allow them to do so. She and Perez left the store empty-handed, and she said some of the customers approached them and said they did not believe they deserved to be ejected from the store.
. . .
The couple were not content to let the incident go unaddressed. …
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As jury selection in the trial of two defendants in the 2006 Michael J. Sandy homicide started on September 10, the broad outlines of the prosecution case have emerged.
. . .
The two defendants whose cases are going to trial now, John Fox, 20, and Anthony Fortunato, 21, are charged with two counts of second-degree murder, one as a hate crime, four counts of attempted robbery with two as hate crimes, two manslaughter counts, one as a hate crime, and two assault counts, one as a hate crime. The fourth defendant, Ilya Shurov, 21, faces the same charges and will be tried separately. No date has been set for his trial.
. . .
The defense may raise doubts about the intent on the robbery charge. While questioning prospective jurors on September 11, Gerald J. DiChiara, Fortunato’s attorney, noted that robbery is legally defined as “forcible stealing.” The defense may argue that the plan did not include the use of force and allege that Shurov acted on his own in attacking Sandy.
A defense in felony murder is that the defendant did not cause or aid in the killing and another is that the defendant “had no reasonable ground to believe that any other participant” would cause death or serious physical harm. The prosecution has said that Fortunato was not on the parkway when Sandy was hit by the car.
. . .
If convicted on the top count, Fox and Fortunato face a minimum sentence of 15-to-life. If the jury decides this was a hate crime, that adds five years to the minimum sentence. The average sentence served for murder in New York is just under 25 years.
Much more from Gay City News
See also:
Suspect sought ‘gay guys to rob’
Defense Takes On Hate Crime Tag
Judge Rules 3 Can Be Charged With Hate Crimes
Gay-slay suspects can’t beat hate rap
Suspect Said to Have Joked About Attack on Gay Man
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Gay.com reports:
An Oregon man was arrested on a robbery charge Thursday in connection with a Sea Cliff, N.Y., gay-bashing attack reported by former “Top Chef” contestant Josie Smith-Malave.
Matthew W. Walli, 20, turned himself in to authorities Thursday and, after giving testimony about the Sept. 1 incident, was arrested on a charge of second-degree robbery, said Nassau County, N.Y., police Detective Lt. Kevin Smith.
. . .
Smith-Malave, a lesbian, says she and two other women were victimized outside a bar called Partners on Labor Day weekend by a group of about 12 people, including three women, who spat on them, punched them and made anti-gay slurs such as “bush muncher.”
During the altercation, Smith-Malave’s $800 mini-camcorder was stolen.
Robbery second degree is a class C felony; it could bumped up to a class B felony if the robbery is determined to be a bias-related hate crime. Class B felonies carry a sentence of anywhere from five to 25 years. Walli could also be charged with aggravated harassment as details emerge.
Smith said the investigation is ongoing as the department canvasses for names and that other arrests may follow.
See also:
Ex-’Top Chef’ contestant beaten in Sea Cliff
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“Persecuted for political reasons”? Yeah, we gay folk have it in for the people who are supposed to be protecting us, so we just make up gay-bashing crap when we feel like it. 
The Rochester Police Department and a Civilian Review Board have upheld allegations against several officers who responded to a fight on South Goodman Street on June 1.
A group of people said they were attacked because some in the group are gay. They claim officers who responded let the suspects go and used anti-gay slurs. The officers also arrested three of the complainants, charging them with disorderly conduct.
Chief David Moore would not say which allegations were sustained, and whether any allegations were unsubstantiated. He would not identify the accused officers, or say how many were investigated and how many were found to have violated departmental policies.
. . .
“This is an example of cops being persecuted for political reasons,” said Mike Mazzeo, a Rochester Police Locust Club union official. …
More from 13WHAM.com
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September 12, 2007
Reports 365Gay.com:
An Albany court has dismissed a challenge to a decision by New York State’s Comptroller that treats out-of-state marriages of same-sex couples the same as any other legal marriage in terms of benefits afforded to state employees through the New York State Retirement System.
In 2004 in response to an inquiry by a gay state employee wanting to know if his retirement benefits would cover his family if he went to Canada to legally marry his partner, New York State Comptroller at the time, Alan Hevesi, stated that, “Based on current law, the retirement system will recognize a same-sex Canadian marriage in the same manner as an opposite-sex New York marriage under the principle of comity. That principle has been legal practice pursuant to New York Court of Appeals rulings for many years.”
. . .
Hevesi’s interpretation of the law matched that of then Attorney General, now Gov. Eliot Spitzer, who also said that, under the state’s current laws, same-sex couples who legally married in other jurisdictions should be treated as any other married couple in New York State.
The Alliance Defend Fund, an Arizona- based organization that regularly fights LGBT issues, filed the suit, citing the July 2006 ruling by the Court of Appeals - the state’s highest court - that upheld New York’s ban on same-sex marriage.
. . .
The issue that Hevesi addressed for the purpose of retirement benefits involved only same-sex marriages from Canada. Following today’s ruling by Judge McNamara, Hevesi’s successor, Thomas P. DiNapoli announced that the retirement system would be recognizing all legal out-of-state marriages of same-sex couples and not just those from Canada. This will include same-sex marriages performed in Massachusetts, Spain, Netherlands, South Africa and Belgium.
The ADF has not said if it will appeal today’s ruling.
See also:
NY recognizes Canadian same-sex marriages
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From eMaxHealth:
The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene on Tuesday reported that new HIV diagnoses among men who have sex with men younger than age 30 has increased by 33% since 2001, the New York Times reports. The city in 2006 recorded 499 HIV cases among MSM younger than age 30, compared with 374 in 2001 (Kershaw, New York Times, 9/12).
New HIV cases among MSM ages 13 to 19 also increased from 41 cases in 2001 to 87 in 2006, the AP/Long Island Newsday reports. More than 90% of MSM under age 20 who were newly diagnosed with HIV were black or Hispanic (AP/Long Island Newsday, 9/12). In East and Central Harlem in Manhattan, there were 56 new HIV cases among MSM in 2006, up 115% from 26 in 2001. In addition, HIV cases in Manhattan’s Chelsea and Clinton neighborhoods increased by 56% from 25 in 2001 to 39 in 2006, the New York Sun reports (New York Sun, 9/12). According to the Times, new HIV cases for MSM older than age 30 decreased by 22% (New York Times, 9/12).
The city health department did not offer explanations for the increased number of HIV cases among young MSM, the AP/Newsday reports. Donna Futterman, director of the adolescent AIDS program at Children’s Hospital at Montefiore, said that more cases are being recorded among minority MSM ages 13 to 19 because they might feel that they need to hide their sexual orientation…
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A former “Top Chef” contestant from Brooklyn was beaten in an anti-gay attack outside a Sea Cliff bar, and her lawyer said yesterday that she is disappointed in the police response to the crime.
Josie Smith-Malave, who was featured on Season 2 of the Bravo channel show, was one of three women asked to leave Partners, a Sea Cliff bar, the night of Sept. 1 after two of the women danced together, their lawyer, Yetta Kurland, of Manhattan, said yesterday.
Kurland said her clients told her that about 10 or 12 young people from the bar, some of whom appeared underage, followed the women out and began screaming anti-gay epithets, throwing debris and spitting at them, then beating them.
Nassau County police said they were investigating but said they would not provide additional information because it might impede their investigation and ability to make arrests.
More from Newsday
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September 11, 2007
A man who was denied workers’ compensation benefits following the death of his same-sex partner is taking his case to a New York State appeals court.
At issue is whether a civil union conducted in Vermont is equivalent to marriage under New York State law.
John Langan and Neil Conrad Spicehandler were united in Vermont. but in February 2002, Spicehandler was struck by a car driven by a New Jersey man.
. . .
Langan waited for Spicehandler to return from the surgery that night, visited with him and kissed him goodnight. Early the next morning, Langan was awoken by a call from St. Vincent’s Hospital telling him that Spicehandler was dead.
Langan filed a claim with the New York Workers’ Compensation Board which turned it over to its insurance carrier, State Farm.
State Farm agreed that under the circumstances of Spicehandler’s death benefits were due, but decided that Langan was not eligible to receive them because the couple was not legally married.
More from 365gay.com
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