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Brown: Teens made sport of assaulting Hispanics

Joye Brown

November 21,2008

Punch a man in the face so hard he crumbles, unconscious, to the ground.

Shoot a man standing in his own front yard with a BB gun.

Chase a man down the street. He gets away, but it takes only a few steps to climb back into a red sport utility vehicle and cruise for someone else.

According to a prosecutor, that's what passed for fun among a group of Patchogue-Medford high school students who probably wish they'd spent less time with certain friends and more time at home.

Six of the teens pleaded not guilty yesterday to the heavy-duty gang assault and hate crime charges stemming from one night on the town. The seventh will be arraigned Monday on the first hate-murder charge in Long Island's history.

The system gives each the presumption of innocence, and it's yet to be determined whether statements they gave police the night Marcelo Lucero died will withstand vigorous challenges from defense attorneys.

But yesterday, during six arraignments, there was no escaping the ugly picture prosecutors put together from what they said were the teens' own statements:

The night Lucero died began with boredom and booze in a Medford park. Two of the suspects start talking about beating up "beaners." A suspect volunteered to drive. Another suggested starting the night's mischief in his own neighborhood. And when that didn't pan out, another suggested leaving for Patchogue.

Two carried knives that night; one carried a BB gun, according to pieces of statements the seven gave police that night, prosecutors said. And the suspects were busy; they jumped out to give chase at least twice that night, according to their statements.

Friends, acquaintances and the teens themselves, according to Thomas Spota, Suffolk's district attorney, said "it wasn't unusual for these young people to look for Latinos to beat up."

It was "just for fun," Spota said one of them told police that night.

And another told them: "I don't go out doing this often - maybe only once a week."

And how long was this going on?

Statements from one suspect went back to an incident he told police occurred Nov. 3 - five days before the Lucero stabbing.

On that night, he said he and another teen found a Hispanic man. The other teen, the suspect told police, "punched the victim so hard he knocked him out cold," Spota said during a news conference.

The victim has yet to come forward, Spota added.

Nov. 7, a day before the stabbing, two suspects went cruising at 5 a.m. They had a BB gun, they told police, and one of them shot and injured a Hispanic man standing in front of his home.

On Nov. 8, all seven traveled to Patchogue together. The first man they chased got away, they told police, but they later came upon Lucero and a friend.

"They taunted the pair with racist remarks and attacked both victims, landing some punches," Spota said.

One suspect boasted of his success in "snuffing" - in teen speak landing a blow - to Lucero's face, Spota said.

The suspect told police he "got him good" because he saw blood running from Lucero, Spota said.

Other suspects told police they had surrounded Lucero.

Bleeding, the victim tried to defend himself by removing his belt and swinging it, according to statements a prosecutor read in court.

He hit one suspect in the head.

That suspect was Jeffrey Conroy, who pulled out a knife and "ran towards Marcelo with his arm extended, plunging the knife into his chest," Spota said.

And with that, Lucero fell, mortally wounded, to the ground.

"Let's get the - out of here," one suspect told police, according to Spota. "I think I stabbed him." Until then, none of the other suspects realized that Conroy had taken out a knife and that Lucero had been stabbed, Spota said.

"To them, it was a sport," Spota said.

A deadly sport.

Newsday.com

Charge in hate-slay upgraded to murder

Teens attacked another Hispanic man before Marcelo Lucero was stabbed to death, according to indictment

BY ERIK GERMAN

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Nov 20, 2008

Seven teenage friends had singled out a Hispanic man for a beating, but one among them - Jeffrey Conroy - was intent on killing when he stuck a knife into the man's chest, Suffolk prosecutors said after an indictment boosting his charges from manslaughter to murder was unsealed in Riverhead Thursday.

All seven Patchogue-Medford High School students charged in the attack on Marcelo Lucero, 37, now face new hate crime and conspiracy counts for what prosecutors said was an unsuccessful attempt to surround and pummel another Hispanic man earlier the night of Nov. 8.

Conroy, 17, of Medford, will be arraigned Monday on a charge of second-degree murder as a hate crime - the first time on Long Island someone has faced such a charge - along with the original charge of first-degree manslaughter as a hate crime. The indictments came the same day funeral services were being held for Lucero in his home city of Gualaceo in the Ecuadorean Andes.

Several hours after nearly 600 mourners packed the church of Lucero's youth for his funeral, his mother, Rosario, said the latest indictments were nothing to celebrate, but the charges are "well deserved. They need to understand the pain they have caused us."

Conroy's arraignment was postponed because his lawyer, William Keahon of Islandia, was out of state.

Reached by phone Thursday, Keahon said his client was innocent and he lashed out at county officials who he said had unfairly and publicly condemned his client in recent days. In particular, Keahon criticized County Executive Steve Levy, a Democrat known for his tough stance against illegal immigration.

"I find it outrageous that a man with a law degree holding the position of county executive can, from day one, brand my client a racist white supremacist without any personal knowledge of the proof in this case," Keahon said. "The only proof of racism and white supremacism are the words and deeds of Mr. Levy, who for the past three years has very clearly spoken and acted as a racist."

Levy responded in a statement, saying, "It is reprehensible for anyone to suggest that individuals opposed to illegal immigration are necessarily intolerant or culpable in this outrageous act of hate."

Although Levy noted the suspects are presumed innocent, he added, "I think it is fair to say that an individual who tattoos a swastika on his body can be classified as a white supremacist," referring to police reports of a tattoo on Conroy's leg.

Outside court, Suffolk District Attorney Thomas Spota said the seven students charged in the attack admitted they regularly beat Hispanics for fun. He said one of the accused attackers, Anthony Hartford, 17, of Medford, told police "I don't go out doing this very often, maybe once a week."

"That statement provides a true window into the mindset of these defendants," Spota said. "To them, it was a sport."

Hartford's lawyer, Laurence Silverman of Huntington, said in court that "words have been put in his mouth."

Silverman told Suffolk County Court Judge C. Randall Hinrichs that his client has Hispanic ancestors and "absolutely denies that he is a bigot."

Silverman then pointed out the large, multiracial group of high school students he said had come to support his client and other defendants. Seats were packed with supporters of the victim and the accused. Weeping broke out in different quarters as each of the teens was led out in handcuffs.

Also facing new charges along with Conroy and Hartford were: Jordan Dasch, 17, of Medford; Nicholas Hausch, 17, of Medford; Jose Pacheco, 17, of East Patchogue; Kevin Shea, 17, of Medford; and Christopher Overton, 16, of East Patchogue.

Hausch and Dasch also were each charged with another count of second-degree assault as a hate crime after they attacked Marlon Garcia in front of his home with a BB gun about 5 a.m. that day, prosecutors said. Garcia escaped harm.

Hausch's lawyer, Jason Bassett of Central Islip, denied the charge. "I think the district attorney's office is taking a bunch of unsolved bias crimes from that area that involved teenagers and they're just throwing it at these kids," he said.

Hinrichs set bail for all suspects but Overton at $250,000 cash or $500,000 bond.

He ordered Overton held without bail, citing the suspect's previous felony conviction in connection with a botched 2007 burglary that left homeowner Carlton Shaw Sr., 38, dead on the lawn of his East Patchogue home.

Staff writers Kathleen Kerr, Patrick Whittle, Reid Epstein and Bart Jones in Ecuador contributed to this story.

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