On Tuesday, the retrial began of one of the men accused in the vicious December 2008 beating death of an Ecuadorean immigrant mistakenly believed to be gay. And on Thursday, defendant Keith Phoenix was already laughing at witness testimony, reports the New York Post.
"A man accused in the murder of an Ecuadorian immigrant he thought was gay laughed during his retrial yesterday when a witness described the way the victim walked down a Brooklyn street with his brother before the heinous attack. Keith Phoenix, 30, chuckled when his cousin, Demetrius Nathaniel, told jurors about the moment before the Dec. 7, 2008, attack. 'They looked like a married couple,' Nathaniel said. 'You know, they were arm-in-arm.' Phoenix, whose last trial for murder as a hate crime ended in a hung jury, laughed and appeared to say, 'Stupid, man. He's stupid.' He drew a swift rebuke from Judge Patricia DiMango."
In April, you may recall that 19-year-old Demetrius Nathaniel told jurors he watched from the back seat of an SUV as his cousin repeatedly hit Jose Sucuzhañay over the head, back and ribs with an aluminum baseball bat. Nathaniel testified that he heard "the sounds of bones breaking."
Maybe it's all a joke to Keith Phoenix. Only minutes after the beating, the accused murderer was also caught laughing on a traffic camera.
Phoenix's first trial ended in a mistrial on May 12 after one juror refused to continue deliberations. Despite numerous witnesses hearing both men use anti-gay slurs during the beating, Hakim Scott was acquitted of murder and hate crime charges. Scott was convicted of manslaughter and attempted assault.
Rod 2.0's complete coverage HERE.
Here's hoping the jury in this new, second trial will see through the defense's blame-the-victim tactics and wipe that laughing smile right off Phoenix' face with a murder and hate-crime conviction.
Phoenix can then spend 25-to-life crying about his new home in Attica.
Posted by: Nathan James | 18 June 2010 at 13:17
Let's see if he's gonna be laughin' in prison.
Posted by: Darryl | 18 June 2010 at 13:26
Let's pray that the jury doesn't f-up like the previous jury did. This scum needs to be put away.
Posted by: Ravenback | 18 June 2010 at 14:32
What a putrid, disgusting, vile excuse of a human being. Interestingly enough, these are the type of people many of us homos would defend.
Posted by: Account Deleted | 18 June 2010 at 15:45
His "he's stupid" comment is more ironic than he'll ever understand. Hopefully this will finish him for good with this new jury.
Sadly, he can still spend his life chuckling away in prison. It's people like this who make me re-think my position on capital punishment.
Posted by: Taylor Siluwé | 18 June 2010 at 17:35
Laughing? Really?
I guess he is confident that he will get off on these charges. I don't think so, sir.
Posted by: Dalton | 18 June 2010 at 17:36
I hope the jury takes into account his demeanor when they make their verdict.
Posted by: libhomo | 19 June 2010 at 06:08
...It's exactly how hyper-masculine hetero Black males think of homosexuality or of two males even being close together...
Posted by: sonofabutch | 19 June 2010 at 12:04
Fry his ass...then serve it with a nice garnish at the nearest state facility. He's a moron and fits the profile of the self-hating man who has had his share of 'encounters' and uses these types of incidents to establish some machismo credibility. It's now the rule that any alleged straight man who goes out of his way to belittle, attack or berate gay men is more than likely gay and trying to distance himself from the issue. Homophobia is the new coming out.
Posted by: Cocoa Rican | 21 June 2010 at 07:47