A judge has declared a mistrial in the case against a New Yorker charged with murder as a hate crime in the death of an Ecuadorean immigrant.
Judge Patricia Dimango said she declared a mistrial Tuesday after one of the jurors refused to continue deliberations Tuesday. The Brooklyn jury got the case late Thursday.
Keith Phoenix was accused of beating Jose Sucuzhanay (Soo-koo-suh-NEYE’) with a baseball so badly he cracked his skull. Sucuzhanay died several days later at a hospital.
The victim as his brother were walking arm-in-arm on a cold night and prosecutors say Phoenix and co-defendant Hakim Scott targeted the men because they thought they brothers were gay.
Scott was convicted Thursday of manslaughter and attempted assault in the attack, but a separate jury decided his acts were not motivated by hate. He will be sentenced June 9.
Two juries heard the case because the defendants had implicated each other.