national
Hate crime suspects face new charges
Latinos’ deaths prompt calls for hate crimes law
Published Thursday, 05-Feb-2009 in issue 1102
FARMINGDALE, New York (AP) – Seven teenagers, already accused in the racially motivated stabbing death of an Ecuadorian immigrant, were charged in a new indictment Jan. 28 with taking part in attacks on eight other Hispanics over 14 months.
The November killing of Marcelo Lucero has attracted international attention and prompted a U.S. Justice Department investigation of hate crime allegations in the New York suburb of Long Island.
At a community meeting in December, other victims came forward to tell their stories, leading to some of the charges filed Wednesday. Victims were knocked off bicycles; punched in coin-operated laundries; and attacked while walking down the street, prosecutors said.
The teens reportedly have told authorities that targeting Hispanics for abuse was a regular activity.
One of them, 17-year-old Anthony Hartford, told police, “I don’t go out doing this very often, maybe once a week,” according to District Attorney Thomas Spota.
Five of the teenagers pleaded not guilty Jan. 28 to assault, gang assault, attempted robbery and other crimes. The two others will be arraigned this week.
All seven previously pleaded not guilty to hate crime and other charges related to the Nov. 8, 2008, killing of Lucero, a 37-year-old dry cleaning worker. The teen accused of plunging a knife into Lucero’s chest is charged with murder as a hate crime.
Attorneys did not immediately return calls seeking comment on the latest charges, but have previously said their clients are innocent.
The incidents highlight the extraordinary tension that exists on Long Island between white residents and the booming Hispanic population. Immigrants say they are often harassed, but don’t tell police because they fear they’ll be deported. It is not clear what Lucero’s immigration status was at the time he was killed.
In December, lawmakers and Hispanic groups denounced the beating death of Lucero, saying his and other recent slayings of Latino immigrants lend new urgency to the need for a federal hate crimes law.
During a news conference, Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., named three immigrants he said were killed “simply because of who they were.”
Jose Osvaldo Sucuzhanay, an Ecuadorian immigrant living in New York, was beaten Dec. 7 by men who yelled anti-Hispanic and anti-gay slurs at him and his brother, Rommel. Police were still searching for suspects.
“The senseless loss of life cannot be met with silence but rather must be condemned with our loudest voices,” Schumer said.
Latino leaders said considering what appeared to be rising anti-Latino sentiment, Congress should pass legislation to expand the federal hate crimes law. The bill, known as the Matthew Shepard Act, would add protections for bias crimes motivated by gender, sexual orientation and disabilities, and expand the Justice Department’s investigative powers.
Current law limits federal investigation of hate crimes to when a federally protected activity is occurring, such as voting. But that restriction would be lifted under the proposal.
The bill also would give local officials resources to investigate hate crimes.
Sucuzhanay’s death followed Lucero’s, who was fatally stabbed Nov. 8, in Patchogue, N.Y., by a group of teenagers, and the July 14 death of Luis Ramirez, 25, a Mexican immigrant who was fatally beaten in eastern Pennsylvania.
Prosecutors said seven teenagers charged in Lucero’s assault had set out to find a Hispanic person to attack. Three teenagers have been charged in connection with Ramirez’s death. The three also face charges of ethnic intimidation. A fourth teenager faces less serious charges and will be prosecuted as a juvenile.
FBI statistics show there were 830 Hispanic victims of hate crimes last year, up from 819 the previous year and 595 in 2003.
“We have seen that a culture of fear, hate and xenophobia, ultimately leads to a crime of violence,” said Schumer, who helped sponsor the law that required the government to keep hate crime statistics.
John Trasvina, chairman of the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda, a coalition of Hispanic groups, said the bill, named after a gay college student who was fatally beaten in October 1998 in Laramie, Wyo., would ensure hate crimes are prosecuted when there is reluctance to do so at the local level.
“One of the most important things the hate crimes bill would do would be to bring out the power of the Department of Justice to this effort. Currently most of these crimes are treated as local crimes,” Trasvina said.
Schumer said he would join Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., to push for passage of the bill in Congress. President Barack Obama also is likely to support passage of the bill.
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