Man convicted of assault as hate crime in Howard Beach baseball bat attack

Waterbury Republican-American ^ | June 10, 2006 | Pat Milton (A.P.)

[Graybeard58]

NEW YORK -- A white man accused of pummeling a black man over the head with a baseball bat was convicted of second-degree assault as a hate crime Friday after a three-week trial that focused on the defendant's use of "the n-word" during the beating.

A jury deliberated for eight hours over two days before finding 20-year-old Nicholas Minucci guilty in the assault of Glenn Moore last June in the predominantly white Queens neighborhood of Howard Beach -- the site of another notorious attack that inflamed racial tensions in New York 20 years ago.

Minucci looked pale as the verdict was read. As he was handcuffed and led out of court, he turned and looked at family members sitting in the courtroom.

Minucci also was convicted of first- and second-degree robbery as a hate crime for stealing Moore's sneakers and other items in the attack. He faces up to 25 years in prison on the top count, when he is sentenced on July 15.

"By its verdict the jury has sent a loud and clear message that crime predicated upon hate can never be tolerated," Queens district attorney Richard Brown said Friday. "Today's verdict represents the outrage of the residents of this county over crimes motivated by bigotry and hatred."

Prosecutors charged that Minucci, then a 240-pounder with the nickname "Fat Nick," hurled the "n-word" during the attack and shouted, "We'll show you not to come and rob white boys."

Moore, who suffered a fractured skull, admitted that he and two friends were in the neighborhood trying to steal a car but said they hadn't taken anything when they encountered Minucci and his friends.

Moore, 23, sat stoically in the second row of the courtroom with a court officer and his mother as the verdict was read.

The defense argued that Minucci used reasonable force against someone attempting to commit a crime and said he was "a scapegoat because he's a dope."

"He suffered because Howard Beach is synonymous with racism. That is not what happened here," defense attorney Albert Gaudelli said outside court.

Gaudelli said that his client has been jailed for the past year. "He has been treated like a hardened serial rapist or a mad-dog murderer," he said.

At trial, Moore testified that his attackers took off his sneakers and had him on his knees when Minucci swung an aluminum bat at his head like he was trying to hit a pitch. "Ding! Right above my right ear," he said.

Another witness, Frankie Agostini, accused of being an accomplice in the beating, testified that the clang of the bat against Moore's head "sounded like Barry Bonds hit a home run."

Minucci's attorney contended that his client struck Moore in the legs, but that Moore fractured his skull by tripping and hitting his head on the ground.

The encounter drew comparisons to the 1986 death of Michael Griffith, a black man struck by a car while trying to escape a group of white attackers in the same neighborhood. In that case, Griffith's car had broken down.

Gaudelli argued that the epithet Minucci is accused of using is so commonly used today among hip-hop fans of all races that it no longer has a predominantly racist connotation.

The defense also tried to prevent jurors from hearing that Minucci was convicted of interrupting a religious service and menacing for shooting a paint ball at a Sikh going into a temple on Sept. 11, 2001.

That case was sealed because Minucci was classified as a youthful offender. But State Supreme Court Justice Richard Buchter allowed the prosecution to bring up the incident after the defense put one of Minucci's friends on the stand to testify that he is not a racist.

The jury also found Minucci guilty of fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon -- the baseball bat -- and two counts of fifth-degree criminal possession of stolen property -- the sneakers and another pair of shoes.

Agostini was not charged in the attack on Moore. Another alleged accomplice, Anthony Ench, pleaded guilty in October to charges of second-degree attempted robbery and second-degree attempted assault as a hate crime.

[Coleus]

Now he's Fat Nick of time
Howard Beach hood Nicholas Minucci was found guilty yesterday of a hate crime in the baseball bat attack of a black man last summer - a case that centered on his use of the N-word just before the beating. The crime carries a hefty sentence of 8-1/3 to 25 years.
FULL STORY

Nick's mom says it's all Mayor's fault

The angry mother of Nicholas Minucci blamed everyone from Mayor Bloomberg to police detectives for siding with "career criminals" in railroading her son on hate crime charges.

FULL STORY

 

 

[Rome2000]

If the police were doing their job they would have been beating up on Moore and his friends with nightsticks instead of leaving it up to the Gavones.

Anybody still living in NYC ought to have their heads examined.

[D1X1E]

Should have just let him peacefully steal the car I suppose. Actually sounds like the beater and the beatee as it were, both belong in jail.