Trial Begins Today for Brooklyn Hate Crime
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
The trial of two defendants accused of attempted robbery and murder as a hate crime will start Monday in state Supreme Court in Brooklyn.
In October 2006, the defendants, John Fox, 20, and Anthony Fortunato, 21, allegedly lured Michael Sandy, 29, to Sheepshead Bay to rob him after he answered an advertisement placed on a gay chat room, allegedly placed by the defendants. While attempting to flee the robbery, Sandy was struck and killed by a hit-and-run driver on the Belt Parkway.
Prosecutors are using the hate crime charge because they argue the defendants selected Sandy because they thought a gay man would offer little resistance. Under that classification, the minimum sentence for murder is 25 years in prison, 10 years more than the regular minimum sentence.
