"Beaner Jumping" Hate Crime Claims Life of New York Man
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Marcello Lucero, a 37-year-old Ecuadorian immigrant, was beaten and stabbed to death by seven teenagers in Patchogue, New York. According to police reports, the group had planned to assault any Hispanic they could find.
They called it "beaner jumping."
Although they pleaded not guilty in court, Richard Dormer, the Suffolk County Police Commissioner, stated that all seven "admitted their involvement . . . in this crime."
Authorities allege that 17-year-old Jeffrey Conroy had stabbed Lucero. He is charged with first-degree manslaughter as a hate crime. His six accomplices, all ages 16 or 17, are being charged with first-degree gang assault.
According to the FBI, violence against Hispanics represented 62.8 percent of the hate crimes motivated by ethnicity or national origin in 2006. This makes Hispanics the #1 victim of these types of hate crimes. These statistics are the most current that are available.
Before Lucero was killed, he worked at a dry-cleaning shop. He had been living in the United States for 16 years. His mother, distraught by the unexpected tragedy, told a reporter that she doesn't understand the hate. "We are human beings."
In addition to the horrible loss to the Lucero family, the lives of the perps are basically over too. Any dreams their moms had of a happy, traditional future with beaming grandchildren, smashed by the clang of the prison doors slamming behind their sons. And during those long, barren years inside, they will either mature enough to comprehend the horror of their actions, or they will become so warped that murder won't trouble them. The latter is more likely, there is a lot of hate in prison.
What I don't understand is why these murderers are getting off with anything less than first-degree murder charges. This was obviously a premeditated murder and the perpetrators are old enough to be charged as adults.
Their lives SHOULD be over so this vile crime is never committed by them again. A life sentence with no possibility of parole will serve as a warning to others who may be thinkning of taking up "beaner jumping" or any other hate crime.
No matter how we feel about any issue, it's time to stop the hate.
-Sad Gringo
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