Jeffrey Conroy, a teenager charged with the hate crime death of Marcelo Lucero, was sentenced to the maximum sentence of 25 years in prison, CBS reports. The Suffolk County judge who presided over the case said that the amount of evidence was the reason for the sentencing. CBS News quotes the judge as saying, "[T]he proof was overwhelming."
As we wrote about previously in this blog, Jeffrey Conroy and his six friends were looking for a dark skinned victim to attack. Unfortunately for Marcelo Lucero, the group of boys targeted him for the attack back in November 2008. The group of boys taunted, beat and stabbed the Ecuadorian dry cleaner to death. While the rest of the boys pled guilty to first degree gang assault, Jeffrey Conroy pled not guilty and relied on his New York criminal defense attorney to go to trial.
While Jeffrey Conroy has indicated that he feels remorse for what he did, his father still had the gall to curse the court after hearing his son's sentence. His father exclaimed that his son was only 17 years old at the time that the hate crime death occurred.
However, according to Campaign for Youth Justice, what his father probably does not realize is that New York is one of three states that automatically prosecute 16 and 17 year olds as adults. The other two states are Connecticut and North Carolina. There are a total of ten states that automatically prosecute 17 year olds as adults. They are: Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Texas, and Wisconsin.
After the sentencing, Marcelo Lucero's mother Rosario told news reporters that she had forgiven the teen and that she would pray for him.
Related Resources:
- Jeffrey Conroy Convicted in Long Island Hate Crime (FindLaw's New York Criminal Law Blog)
- Meet With a New York Criminal Defense Attorney (FindLaw)
- Another Anti-Latino Hate Crime in NYC (FindLaw's New York Criminal Law Blog)
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