Defendants Point Fingers in Death of Michael Sandy
From the New York Times
By MICHAEL BRICK
Published: April 25, 2007
They told the police that they thought it would be easy to rob the gay man. It was not easy.
The gay man ran away when they punched him, they said on videotaped statements played yesterday in State Supreme Court in Brooklyn. He climbed over a guardrail along the Belt Parkway, stopped a lane of traffic, waved his cellphone as if to call for help, stumbled into the next lane and was hit by a car.
They said they dragged the gay man off the road and searched his pockets for money and drugs but his pockets were empty. They went home and drank beer and the gay man died in a hospital.
The three of them were charged with murder as a hate crime, a distinction that could affect their sentences if they are convicted. Prosecutors said they chose their victim because they thought gay men were weak and afraid.
They walked into the courtroom yesterday in handcuffs, John Fox, Ilya Shurov, also known as Alex, and Anthony Fortunato, none older than 20. Their trial date has not been set; first a judge must decide whether their confessions are admissible. They sat side by side and watched their own videotaped statements to the police. On the screen, they blamed one another for the killing. In the courtroom, they did not say anything and did not look at one another much.
They were watched from the spectators’ area by friends and relatives of the gay man, Michael Sandy, who died on Oct. 13, five days after the attack and a day after his 29th birthday. He had been contacted through a Web site for gay men and lured to a parking area in Sheepshead Bay, prosecutors said.
In the courtroom, a video screen was lowered and the image of Mr. Fox appeared. He was dressed in a white T-shirt and shorts and he fidgeted in a small chair before a backdrop of cinder-block walls.
At the defense table, the three young men moved their chairs so they could see the image of Mr. Fox.
On the recording, Mr. Fox used police words like proceeded and indicated. He answered some of his interrogator’s questions before the questions were fully formed. He said, “Yes, ma’am.”
Mr. Fox said that Mr. Fortunato had lured the victim to an area near Plumb Beach. There, Mr. Fox told the victim to drive to the beach while the others waited in ambush.
“He asked what it was, and I told him it was a gay beach,” Mr. Fox said. “I told him the gay beach was a place where gay people have sex and stuff.” At the beach, Mr. Fox said, Mr. Shurov punched Mr. Sandy and chased him into traffic.
“He just was right down on the ground,” Mr. Fox said, “and he didn’t move.”
Then the image of Mr. Shurov appeared on the screen. He wore a T-shirt that said “Triple 5 Soul.”
At the defense table, the three men watched as Mr. Shurov gave his account. He said: “John also came and hit him.”
He said: “I was drinking and my friends got me involved in this.”
He said it was Mr. Fox and Mr. Fortunato who had used the computer to lure their victim. He admitted he had chased Mr. Sandy into the street and punched him. He demonstrated how he had pulled Mr. Sandy from the parkway and searched his pants pockets.
“I apologize to his family; I know my words can’t help, but I’m just really sorry for what happened,” he said on the recording. Later, when his interrogator had finished, Mr. Shurov asked: “Is this going to be shown to his parents?”
In the courtroom, the victim’s mother, Denise Sandy, was sitting with her son’s friends. Later, she said she accepted the apology, a courthouse ritual usually reserved until after a trial. But first Ms. Sandy and her son’s friends and the three men at the defense table all watched as a prosecutor on the videotape answered Mr. Shurov’s question.
“Right now,” said the prosecutor, Timothy G. Gough, “this is just for investigative purposes.”
See also:
Suspect sought 'gay guys to rob' NY Daily News
Confessions In Gay Killing Played In Court 365gay.com
Posted by bernie at April 26, 2007 12:36 AMThis story left a bad taste in my mouth.
Posted by: CreoleInDC at April 28, 2007 5:49 PMYes, and its written like a police report, which made it kinda creepy to me. This story is just sad all around.
Posted by: taylor Siluwé at April 29, 2007 7:08 PM