A Brooklyn jury yesterday convicted a man of manslaughter in the death of an Ecuadorian immigrant beaten with a baseball bat — but it concluded that hate was not a motive.
Defendant Hakim Scott, 26, was “devastated by the verdict,” according to his lawyer, Craig Newman. “I think, though, that it does vindicate what I said, that this was never about hate, this was never about prejudice.”
Prosecutors said Scott, Keith Phoenix, 30, and a third man beat brothers Romel and José Sucuzhanay after mistaking them for a gay couple.
A separate jury is considering Phoenix’s fate.