Thursday, June 30, 2005

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D.A. BROWN: YOUTH CHARGED IN HATE CRIME IN HOWARD BEACH; ALLEGEDLY BEAT VICTIM WITH ALUMINUM BAT AND UTTERED RACIAL SLURS

Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown today announced that a youth has been charged with assault as a hate crime in an alleged bias-related attack on a street in Howard Beach in which the victim was severely beaten with an aluminum bat and sustained a fractured skull. Two other youths are being sought by police for questioning.

District Attorney Brown said, “The defendant is alleged to have severely beaten the victim with a bat in a hate-crime attack and to have used racial slurs. Remarkably, the injuries sustained by the victim were not fatal, although he remains in guarded condition. Queens County is the most culturally diverse county in the nation and crimes of hate will never be tolerated here. They are despicable and can never be tolerated. They are to be condemned in the strongest possible terms. When they do, regrettably, occur, they will be aggressively investigated, vigorously prosecuted and severely punished.”

The District Attorney identified the defendant as Nicholas Minucci, 19, of 156-45 78th Street in Howard Beach, Queens who has been charged with Assault in the First and Second Degree as a Hate Crime; Robbery in the First and Second Degree as a Hate Crime and Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Fourth Degree and faces a determinate sentence of between eight years and 25 years if convicted.

District Attorney Brown said that according to the criminal charges the defendant attacked the victim, Glenn Moore, 22, early Wednesday morning about 3:30 a.m. at 160th Avenue and 78th Street in Howard Beach and beat him severely with an aluminum bat, causing the victim to sustain a fractured skull. During the attack the defendant is alleged to have uttered racial slurs.

The District Attorney said that police of the New York City Police Department’s Hate Crimes Unit arrested the defendant about 11 hours after the attack on a nearby street in Howard Beach as he was driving a 2005 Cadillac Escalade that he allegedly used in the attack.

The defendant was arraigned in Queens Criminal Court earlier today before Judge Lenora Gerald who remanded him without bail and set a return date of July 20, 2005.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Brian E. Kohm of the District Attorney’s Gang Violence and Hate Crimes Bureau under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Mariela Palomino Herring, Bureau Chief, and Robert J. Hanophy, Deputy Bureau Chief, and the overall supervision of Senior Executive Assistant District Attorney for Trials James C. Quinn and Deputy Executive Assistant District Attorney for Trials John H. Larsen.

It should be noted that criminal charges are merely an accusation and that a defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.