New York - Following two numerous many years wait, a Long Island resident was sentenced to 25 a lot of many years in prison just right after stabbing and killing an immigrant in 2008.
Jeffrey Conroy, now 19, was convicted on charges of manslaughter as a hate crime for the death of Marcelo Lucero, a 37-year-old immigrant from Ecuador. He was also found guilty of gang assault, conspiracy and with the assault of 3 other immigrants.
On the night of the incident, Lucero, who worked at a dry cleaning shop, was walking with a friend to head to yet another friend's house when they had been surrounded by seven teens who attacked the men and killed Lucero by stabbing him with a knife in the chest.
Robert Conroy, 49, the defendant's father, was outraged with the sentence.
He was reported to have screamed in court, exclaiming, "He was 17, for Christ's sake!" He pleaded with the judge and the court to have mercy on his son for the reason that of his age when the crime was committed.
Conroy was then escorted out of the courtroom and remained in custody until he settled down.
This was his extremely very first court disturbance since the seven-week trial began.
Ahead of his sentence was announced, Conroy told the judge, "I'm truly sorry for what happened to Mr.
Lucero.
" He was reported mentioning that each and every single day he lives with regret, wishing it never happened.
Conroy's immigration lawyer told the court how Conroy had countless Hispanic close contacts, including his girlfriend, Pamela Suarez, and that the crimes had been surely not hate-related.
Letters from Conroy's supporters, such as coaches, neighbors and acquaintances ended up staying read aloud as well.
Lucero's family members, having said that, have been not swayed and do not pardon Conroy for his actions.
Lucero's brother, Joselo, 35, spoke of how distraught he was soon when receiving news that his brother was killed.
He even admitted to thoughts of suicide and having repeated nightmares of the incident. He hopes that this will serve as a message to authorities to protect the rights of immigrants living in America - particularly those who are here legally.
Immigrant lawyers handling the case explain that Conroy and six others specifically targeted immigrants for assault as part of a game they referred to as "beaner-hopping" or "Mexican-hopping.
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