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Arguments Heard for Appeal in Michael Sandy Hate Crime Murder

If you've followed Rod 2.0 for several years, you undoubtedly recall the tragic story of Michael Sandy. In October 2006, the black gay Brooklyn interior designer was targeted online, lured to a botched robbery attempt, chased onto a busy highway and fatally struck by a motorist. The driver has never been identified. Four men were sentenced for the hate crime-related homicide. As previously reported two of the convicted killers are appealing their convictions.

Anthony Fortunato is challenging the testimony of one of his former friends and claims the goal was to rob and not kill the victim, Duncan Osbourne reports.

The attorney for Anthony Fortunato said the evidence at trial showed his client never formed the legally required state of mind to find him guilty of manslaughter as a hate crime and his 2007 conviction on that charge should be overturned. “The key issue in this case is whether or not the evidence was legally and factually sufficient to prove manslaughter beyond a reasonable doubt,” said Richard E. Mischel, Fortunato’s attorney, at a June 3 hearing before four state appeals court judges.

The testimony at trial was that Fortunato suggested the plan for the crime to his co-defendants, but that it was John Fox, 23, and Ilya Shurov, 24, who chased Sandy onto the highway. There was conflicting testimony about Fortunato’s involvement in the later robbery. ... Mischel said the verdict by Fortunato’s jury showed that they did not believe he participated in the robbery, the act that drove Sandy to the highway and requires intent to forcibly steal. Manslaughter requires that a defendant act recklessly, but, in this case, that state of mind is predicated on first trying to rob Sandy, Mischel said. “As a consequence of the intentional act, there was a reckless act,” he said. “My client had no violent intentions at all and so the jury found.”

Fortunato hoped to fend off manslaughter charges by telling the jury he is also gay and was afraid to come out. The jury did not buy it. The accused ringleader, 22-year-old John Fox, is also seeking to overturn his convictions for manslaughter and attempted robbery as hate crimes. Fox argues his attorney was incompetent.

The Sandy case remains one of the very few successfully prosecuted anti-gay hate crimes where the victim was black and the offenders were white. Complete background on the Michael Sandy case is here.

Memorial Approved for NYC Hate Crime Victim Michael Sandy

If you've been following Rod 2.0 for several years, you undoubtedly recall the tragic story of Michael Sandy. In October 2006, the black gay Brooklyn interior designer was targeted online, lured to a botched robbery attempt in Sheepshead Bay, chased onto a busy highway and fatally struck by a motorist. On Tuesday, Brooklyn's Community Board 15 voted unanimously to erect a memorial stone for Michael Sandy near the Plumb Beach parking lot.

Sheepshead Bites reports:

Since its establishment shortly after Sandy’s death, the Michael Sandy Foundation serves to identify and support tolerance education, raise awareness of hate crimes, and provide emotional and other assistance to victims and their families. They hope an engraved stone will give potential perpetrators of hate crimes reason to ponder the consequences of their actions.

The group ramped up its efforts, spurred on by Sandy’s parents, about six months ago. Both the community board and Councilman Lew Fidler told the group they’d need to raise the funds themselves, as such memorials can be difficult to accomplish on taxpayer dollars. Months later, the foundation returned with $5,000 and plans for the memorial. The stone itself will resemble a tombstone. It will be made out of granite or similar polished stone, and will carry an inscription to Michael Sandy and all the victims that have lost their lives to hate violence.

The unveiling ceremony is expected to happen on or near the October 8 anniversary of the incident.

On October 8 2006, John Fox, Anthony Fortunato,Ilya Shurov and Gary Timmons used Adam4Adam to lure 29-year-old IKEA designer Michael Sandy to a remote parking lot at Plumb Beach, supposedly for anonymous sex. Sandy was ambushed and chased into traffic on the Belt Parkway. He was struck by an SUV and later died of his injuries. The driver has never been identified. Sandy remained in a vegetative state for five days before his family removed life support. He died on October 13, 2006.

Complete background on the Michael Sandy case is HERE.

Killers in Michael Sandy Hate Crime Murder Appeal Convictions

Two of the convicted killers in the tragic case of Michael Sandy, the black gay Brooklyn interior designer lured to his death and chased onto a busy highway, are appealing their convictions. The accused ringleader in the case is challenging the testimony of one of his former friends and claims the goal was to rob and not kill the victim, reports Gay City News.

Anthony Fortunato, 23, was found guilty of second-degree manslaughter as a hate crime. In 2006, he, Gary Timmins, and two other men lured Sandy, a 29-year-old gay man, to a secluded beach where they tried to rob him. Sandy fled onto a nearby highway where he was struck by a car and killed. Fortunato was sentenced to seven-to-21 years and his earliest possible release date is October 2013. In a plea deal, Gary Timmins, 19, testified for the prosecution in exchange for a four-year sentence. The appeal noted Timmins’ history of drug use, theft, and one serious assault saying, “Since the age of eleven or twelve, he has been an active violator of the criminal law.”

Fortunato, saying he had done so previously, suggested that the group sign on to a gay Internet chat room and lure a gay man to a meeting. Sandy came for a first encounter, but left after seeing all four men. After a second Internet contact, he went back, believing he would meet only John Fox, 22. At that second encounter, Sandy was attacked by Fox and Ilya Shurov, 23. The appeal argued that “the attack and pursuit were spontaneous acts by Shurov, joined by Fox, also spontaneously, and by no one else.” A similar issue was raised at trial.

Fortunato hoped to fend off manslaughter charges by telling the jury he is also gay and was afraid to come out. The jury did not buy it.

Twenty-two-year-old John Fox is also seeking to overturn his convictions for manslaughter and attempted robbery as hate crimes in the killing of Michael Sandy. Fox argues his attorney was incompetent.

Twenty-nine-year-old Michael J. Sandy, an interior designer with IKEA from Brooklyn, was lured to a secluded lot in Sheepshead Bay on Oct. 8, 2006 after exchanging online messages with his would-be-killers on Adam4Adam. Sandy was led to a narrow beach, then attacked and chased into traffic on the Belt Parkway. He was struck by an SUV and later died of his injuries. The driver has never been identified. The Sandy case remains one of the very few successfully prosecuted anti-gay hate crimes where the victim was black and the offenders were white.

Complete background on the Michael Sandy case is here

Michael Sandy Jury Foreman Writes Five Page Plea for Leniency: "It's a Stretch to Call Him a Killer"

Thanks to Andy Towle for the heads up last week while we were off. On Tuesday, the three young men convicted in the brutal robbery and hate crime killing of Michael Sandy will be sentenced and already the court has received numerous letters and pleas for leniency.Gay City News reports the judge has received at least ten letters "seeking lenient treatment" for Anthony Fortunato, the baby-faced killer who hoped to fend off gay-bashing charges by telling a jury that he is also gay.

The most impassioned plea is said to be a " five-page letter" from the jury foreman, previously mentioned on Rod 2.0, who "renounc[ed] his decision to convict the 21-year-old Brooklyn man. 'I never, at any time, believed, stated or wanted to vote that Anthony Fortunato was guilty of manslaughter two, much less a hate crime,' wrote Eric Zaccar, 46, a playwright, in a letter to [Judge] Jill Konviser."

Gay City News adds, "Other letters seeking leniency came from Di Chiara, Fortunato's mother and other relatives, a professor and the dean of students at St. Francis College, where Fortunato was once a student, from the head of a Brooklyn recreational facility, and from State Senator John L. Sampson who wrote that he had known the Fortunato family for many years'... on his official stationary."

UPDATE: Jury Foreman Zaccar parses semantics at GCN for describing Anthony Fortunato—convicted of manslaughter—as a convicted killer. "Anthony didn’t throw a punch, he didn’t steal anything, he wasn’t in the vicinity when Michael Sandy was attacked, he knew that no one with him carryied [sic] any weapons, he had no malicious intentions that were proven, and he even went as far as telling his potentially volatile friend, Gary Timmins, to make sure that nothing violent happened. Since Anthony was quickly acquitted of all murder and robbery charges, I’d say that referring to him as one of the “killers” is just a bit of a stretch."

It's only a "bit of a stretch" to call someone a killer when they lure a gay man from an Internet chatroom, encourage and watch their friends to rob, beat, and chase him into a freeway, and, leave him to die in traffic. Perhaps Anthony Fortunato should be called a convicted manslaughterer?

Complete MICHAEL SANDY coverage.

Some Background...
Michael Sandy's ("Gay") Convicted Killer Describes the Homicide [R20]
"Gay" Defense Fails in Michael Sandy Trial [R20]
Don't Lock Me Up I'm Gay [Keith Boykin]
Letters of Support in For Sandy's Killer [Towleroad]
First Conviction in the Michael Sandy Trial [R20]
News: Florida Dems, Michael Sandy [R20]
Michael Sandy Murder Suspects in Court [R20]
Murder Suspect: He Only "Arranged" the Crime [R20]
Bail for Sandy Murder Suspect? [R20]
Killer Took a Nap After Brutal Gay Bashing [R20]
Charges Upgraded in Sandy Case [R20]
Michael Sandy Taken Off Ventilator [R20]
Four Arrested in Internet Set-Up [R20]
Brooklyn Gay Bashing Update [R20]
Gay Man Beaten in Vicious Attack? [R20]

Michael Sandy's ("Gay") Convicted Killer Describes the Homicide

Another week, another sympathetic portrayal of a victimizer in New York magazine. This week's virtual love fest is seven jump pages and approximately 5000 words of crocodile, jail house tears for Anthony Fortunato, who hoped to fend off his manslaughter conviction in the Michael Sandy case by claiming that he is also gay.

"If he was telling the truth, is a gay man even capable of committing a gay hate crime?" asks writer Robert Kolker. "And what, at the end of the day, is a hate crime, anyway?"

That question was asked and answered by a jury and returned with two convictions, but, if you must, here are some revisionist details:

Fortunato said the plan was "simple enough": "He said he’d done it before, lots of times. He’d meet a gay guy in a chat room and pretend to be gay, too, then flirt a while and arrange a meeting, maybe in a hotel room, then take off with their pot and their money."

After first leaving at the sight of the four boys, Michael Sandy "wanted" trouble: "A half-hour later, up popped another message from Drumnbase007: yo i wanna suck ur cock. Anthony couldn’t believe it. 'The guy wants to come back!' "

The brutal robbery and gay bashing is given short shrift: "Two witnesses had called 911 from cars saying they saw two white kids fighting with a young black man on the highway, bringing two lanes of traffic to a halt before a beige SUV struck Sandy in the far-left lane."

Fortunato is also described in endearing terms, a la "As a boy, he seemed like an exotic creature in his slightly rough neighborhood, into poetry and books and drawing" and "[H]is buzz cut and baggy prison jumpsuit make him seem boyish and gawky, as if he hasn’t yet grown into his looks." Sweeping and inaccurate judgments are also made, such as stating, "Race was never a serious factor in the case, despite the fact that the victim was black and the alleged perpetrators were white."

Race was always a serious factor in the Michael Sandy case: Keith Boykin and other activists were concerned that a black gay men who lost his life at the hands of several white youths—one of whose family was politically connected—would not be prosecuted. There was a rally at City Hall to focus attention on Sandy's murder.

These and other salient facts are ignored in the profile, which focuses on the difficulty of growing up (white), working class, without a father, with a drug problem, and, bi-curious. Welcome to the club, Mr. Fortunato. There are many thousands of young men in similar circumstances. Most do not become serial victimizers of gay men, but, those who do should face prosecution. Meanwhile, it would have been nice to spare some ink for the family of Michael Sandys, which was conveniently ignored in the beatification of Anthony Fortunato.

Some Background...
"Gay" Defense Fails in Michael Sandy Trial [R20]
Don't Lock Me Up I'm Gay [Keith Boykin]
First Conviction in the Michael Sandy Trial [R20]
News: Florida Dems, Michael Sandy [R20]
Don't Lock Me Up I'm Gay [Keith Boykin]
Michael Sandy Murder Suspects in Court [R20]
Murder Suspect: He Only "Arranged" the Crime [R20]
Bail for Sandy Murder Suspect? [R20]
Killer Took a Nap After Brutal Gay Bashing [R20]
Charges Upgraded in Sandy Case [R20]
Michael Sandy Taken Off Ventilator [R20]
Four Arrested in Internet Set-Up [R20]
Brooklyn Gay Bashing Update [R20]
Gay Man Beaten in Vicious Attack? [R20]

Michael Sandy Latest: Weekend Vigil and Jury Explains Verdict

Over the weekend, new developments in the Michael Sandy murder and robbery trial which saw two convictions on mixed verdicts in the past two weeks. On Sunday, "nearly 100 people turned out for the vigil" to honor the life of the late gay black man who was lured to a remote parking lot off the Brooklyn's Belt Parkway on October 8, 2006. (Complete case HERE.) Four young men trolled the Adam4Adam message board for potential victims, arranged the hook-up and then ambushed the Brooklyn interior designer, robbing him and chasing him into traffic. Sandy was hit by an SUV and died days later.

The vigil took place at Plumb Beach, the scene of the vicious crime. The Daily News reports, "Michael Sandy's mother, Denise Sandy, 53, said she hopes her son's death is the last of its kind. 'Justice is being done and I'm thankful for that,' she said. 'We don't want this tragedy to happen to anybody else again.' " The New York Times adds this is only the second time that Mrs. Sandy visited the location and she says, "Just to go back into that atmosphere was very unpleasant; there was a heaviness there, to actually go to see where my son died."

The Sandy case and its two convictions have renewed interest in the Belt Parkway rest area. On the same day as the vigil, The New York Times visited the beach and the parking lot, described as "a convenient place where older men could arrange sexual assignations with other men." Reporters interviewed an older man in a sedan "that had been parked for 35 minutes" who insisted he was not cruising. "Still, when a younger man in a gray hooded sweatshirt approached the white sedan, the two men talked for several minutes and exchanged cigarettes. It is unclear what happened, but both left soon after."

From vigils to cruising to the five days of jury deliberations in the conviction of Anthony Fortunato, who hoped to fend off gay-bashing charges by telling a jury that he is also gay. Gay City News has an excellent report on the deliberations where jurors report they "all believed that he is gay" after the defense called several gay and bisexual men who tricked with Fortunato. "It was incredibly hard and I know that the other jurors felt a lot of sympathy for Anthony Fortunato," the second juror says. "No one thought he was a bad kid."

"Not a bad kid." Hopefully the jurors had as much sympathy for Michael Sandy and his family.

Complete Michael Sandy coverage HERE.

Memorial Held for Michael Sandy [NY Daily News]
Man's Death Shines Light in a Parking Lot [NYT]
Jury Convicts Second Sandy Defendant [Gay City]
Sandy Jury Explains Manslaughter Verdict [Gay City]

Some Background...
"Gay" Defense Fails in Michael Sandy Trial [R20]
First Conviction in the Michael Sandy Trial [R20]
News: Florida Dems, Michael Sandy [R20]
Don't Lock Me Up I'm Gay [Keith Boykin]
Michael Sandy Murder Suspects in Court [R20]
Murder Suspect: He Only "Arranged" the Crime [R20]
Bail for Sandy Murder Suspect? [R20]
Killer Took a Nap After Brutal Gay Bashing [R20]
Charges Upgraded in Sandy Case [R20]
Michael Sandy Taken Off Ventilator [R20]
Four Arrested in Internet Set-Up [R20]
Brooklyn Gay Bashing Update [R20]
Gay Man Beaten in Vicious Attack? [R20]

"Gay" Defense Fails in Michael Sandy Trial, Anthony Fortunato Convicted of Manslaughter

The second conviction in the Michael Sandy robbery and murder trial.

Twenty-one-year-old Anthony Fortunato, who hoped to fend off gay-bashing charges by telling a jury that he is also gay, was convicted of manslaughter as a hate crime for his role in the deadly robbery of the black gay man lured via an Internet chat room. Fortunato was acquitted of the more serious charge, murder as a hate crime, "which could have kept him behind bars for the rest of his life. At his sentencing, he will face a jail term of between five and 25 years."

Prosecutors says Fortunato, John Fox and two other defendants trolled the Adam4Adam message board for potential victims, selecting a gay man as a robbery target, recruiting his friends to participate, and, ultimately, chasing the 29-year-old Sandy into his death in traffic. A third man, Ilya Shurov, will be tried separately. The fourth defendant turned state's evidence.

During the trial, "Fortunato took the witness stand and admitted a role in the crime" and also "said he was also gay, or at least bisexual, and been having sexual thoughts about men since he was a teenager. Jurors also heard testimony from three men who had one-night stands with Fortunato." Surprisingly, some jurors were moved by this testimony. In an interview with The New York Times, the jury foreman criticized the state's hate crimes definition and defended Fortunato: "It didn’t matter that he was also gay."

Twenty-nine-year-old Michael J. Sandy, an interior designer from Williamsburg, was lured to a secluded lot in Sheepshead Bay on Oct. 8, 2006 after exchanging online messages with his would-be-killers on Adam4Adam. Sandy was led to a narrow beach, then attacked and chased into traffic on the Belt Parkway. He was struck by an SUV and later died of his injuries. The driver has never been identified.

Complete Michael Sandy coverage here.

Man guilty of hate crime in death of gay victim [Newsday]
To Jury's Regret, A Hate Crime Conviction [NYT]

Some Background...
First Conviction in the Michael Sandy Trial [R20]
News: Florida Dems, Michael Sandy [R20]
Don't Lock Me Up I'm Gay [Keith Boykin]
Michael Sandy Murder Suspects in Court [R20]
Murder Suspect: He Only "Arranged" the Crime [R20]
Bail for Sandy Murder Suspect? [R20]
Killer Took a Nap After Brutal Gay Bashing [R20]
Charges Upgraded in Sandy Case [R20]
Michael Sandy Taken Off Ventilator [R20]
Four Arrested in Internet Set-Up [R20]
Brooklyn Gay Bashing Update [R20]
Gay Man Beaten in Vicious Attack? [R20]

First Conviction in the Michael Sandy Trial: "The Ringleader"

The first conviction in the Michael Sandy robbery and murder trial has arrived. A Brooklyn jury convicts 20-year-old John Fox of manslaughter as a hate crime and lesser charges for his role in the deadly robbery of the black gay interior designer lured via an Internet chat room. Fox was acquitted of the "most serious charge, murder as a hate crime, which could have kept him behind bars for the rest of his life."

"I wouldn't say I'm unhappy with the verdict," says Zeke Sandy, the father of the slain Brooklyn man, Michael Sandy. "They had the case and they did their best. We have to accept it."

Prosecutors described Fox as "the ringleader" for his role in trolling the Adam4Adam message board for potential victims, selecting a gay man as a robbery target, recruiting his friends to participate, and, ultimately, chasing the 29-year-old Sandy into his death in traffic.

Fox faces prison time that ranges from as little as 5 years to as many as 50. Another suspect tried in the same case, Anthony Fortunato, is awaiting his verdict. (Fortunato's defense advanced the ridiculous claim that the suspect himself was gay and lured Michael Sandy in hopes of a coming out party.) A third man, Ilya Shurov, will be tried separately.

Twenty-nine-year-old Michael J. Sandy Williamsburg was lured to a secluded lot in Sheepshead Bay on Oct. 8, 2006, after exchanging online messages with his would-be-killers on Adam4Adam. He was led to a narrow beach, then attacked and chased into traffic on the Belt Parkway. He was struck by an SUV and later died of his injuries. The driver has never been identified.

Complete Michael Sandy coverage here.

Thief Guilty of Hate in Gay Slay [NY Post]
Conviction of Death of Gay Man in Traffic [NYT]

Some Background...
News: Florida Dems, Michael Sandy [R20]
Don't Lock Me Up I'm Gay [Keith Boykin]
Michael Sandy Murder Suspects in Court [R20]
Murder Suspect: He Only "Arranged" the Crime [R20]
Bail for Sandy Murder Suspect? [R20]
Killer Took a Nap After Brutal Gay Bashing [R20]
Charges Upgraded in Sandy Case [R20]
Michael Sandy Taken Off Ventilator [R20]
Four Arrested in Internet Set-Up [R20]
Brooklyn Gay Bashing Update [R20]
Gay Man Beaten in Vicious Attack? [R20]

News: Florida Dems, Mark Foley, Aretha Franklin, Michael Sandy

· Democratic National Committee votes unanimously "to refuse to seat any Florida Democrat at the Democratic presidential convention in 2008 if the state party did not delay the date of its [January 29] 2008 primary." The Michigan Democratic Party could be affected next.

· Mark Foley, the disgraced Florida Republican who resigned his congressional seat after sending sexually explicit e-mail messages to teenage pages, is unlikely to face criminal charges.

· Health concerns force the iconic Aretha Franklin to cancel her much-anticipated, Sept. 1 scheduled performance at Atlanta Black Gay Pride. SoVo reports the 65-year-old Queen of Soul cited the "hot summer temperatures" and recently cancelled an outdoor Detroit performance for the same reason.

· Arkansas: Proposed referendum that would bar gays and lesbians from adopting children is submitted to the state attorney general. Last week a federal court stuck down an Olahoma law that effectively invalidated adoptions by same-sex coupl

· Wikipedia on the vicious robbery and assault of Michael Sandy, who ran into Brooklyn traffic to escape his assailants: "Sandy’s death also brought back to public attention the death of Michael Griffith, an African American man who was killed after being hit by a car in Howard Beach, Queens, New York, while trying to escape a group of attackers."

· Terrance Heath on that comparison to Michael Griffith: "Sandy’s case didn’t get the kind of response from black civil rights leaders and organizations that the Howard Beach case did. For that matter, Sandy’s death didn’t get the same level of attention as Matthew Shepard’s. Neither, for that matter, did Arthur Warren or Sakiah Gunn."

News: Bush Vetoes Stem Cell Research, Michael Sandy, Bill Duke,

For the second time, President George W. Bush has vetoed popular legislation that would expand federal funding for embryonic stem cell research and, possibly, save many lives. Hoping to deflect criticism, the President issued an executive order “intended to encourage scientific advances in regenerative medicine.” The New York Times reports "the effort appears largely symbolic—there is no money attached—and some scientists were instantly skeptical."

· After Elton on director Bill Duke and Cover, his upcoming film on black men and the "down-low": "One of the early trailers for the film looks like it's another homo-horror flick. Every time the "DL" scenes are shown, the lights are lowered, creepy music plays, a distraught women is in tears and before you know it, the oversexed homo is killing off all the black women in the free world with HIV/AIDS!"

· Report: " 28 percent of LGBT employees have suffered harassment in the workplace with nearly half describing it as severe."

· Michael Savage, the anti-gay right-wing radio shock jock, on the recent defeat of the gay marriage vote in Massachusetts: "The gay mafia bought the votes of state representatives up and down the line—bought them lock, stock, and barrel, like cheap tricks in a gay bathhouse."

· There has been a curious development in the trial of the three young men accused of in the murder of Michael Sandy, the black gay Brooklyn man who was lured, beaten and chased into traffic last October. Defense attorneys argue the state hate crimes statute—with harsher penalties—is broadly written and the defendants did not exhibit "animus" toward gays. "The victim here was chosen because he was an easy target,” argues Gerald J. Di Chiara. “Not because he was gay."