Judge Throws Book At Immigrant's Killers
NEW YORK (WCBS 880/CBS 2/1010 WINS) -- There were tears in a Brooklyn courtroom on Thursday.
A judge came down hard on two men convicted of beating and killing an Ecuadorean immigrant after mistaking him and his brother for a gay couple.
CBS 2's Pablo Guzman and WCBS 880's Monica Miller were there.
LISTEN: WCBS 880's Monica Miller reports
A mother tried to speak after she saw her son's killers sent away to prison, but she was interrupted by her own tears. She was trying to talk about the loss of her son, Jose Sucuzhanay. Who was killed on Dec. 7, 2008, as he and his brother, Romel, were walking back to their home in Brooklyn.
Julia Quituna said in Spanish that she felt bad for the killers.
"As a mother, I feel sad for the family of those who took my son," she said, quietly closing her eyes to gather her thoughts. "But they had no right to take the life of my son and leave his two children orphaned. For me, it is the greatest pain in my life."
Words were exchanged at a traffic light with a car driven by Keith Phoenix. Hakim Scott was a passenger. Scott got out and bashed Jose over the head with a beer bottle; Phoenix beat Jose Sucuzhanay with a baseball bat until he died.
You've heard the expression "The judge threw the book at 'em." She sure did in this case. Scott got 37 years, the maximum. Keith Phoenix got 37 years to life, the maximum. Judge Patricia DiMango certainly threw the book at 'em.
Juliet Papa of 1010 WINS reports DiMango told the defendants, "It only takes a moment in time to change lives forever."
Phoenix got more time because the jury convicted him of murder as a hate crime. Scott was found guilty of manslaughter, but was cleared of hate crime charges. Jose's brother, Diego Sucuzhanay, made a reference to all the hate crimes against Latinos, from Long Island to Staten Island that has surfaced since the attack on his brother.
"I am deeply concerned about the fact of racial hatred that our community continues to suffer today," he said.
When Phoenix was arrested, he told police: "So I killed someone -- that makes me a bad guy?"
The judge said: Yes, it does.
Both men asked for a second chance. The judge's response was "When Jose was lying on the ground with his arm outstretched and you held the bat over your head, where was his second chance?
The victim's brother said the family would set up a foundation in Jose's honor to help the NYPD provide rewards to find those whose attacks are motivated by hate.
"We want to appeal to the family of the defendants to join our cause and together eradicate hatred and promote respect and tolerance," Diego Sucuzhanay said.
