A 21-year-old man was convicted today of
manslaughter as a hate crime for chasing a gay man to his death on a
busy highway, despite his claims that he too was gay.
A Brooklyn Supreme Court jury deliberated for four days before
finding Anthony Fortunato guilty in the Oct. 8, 2006, attack that
killed Michael Sandy.
The jury acquitted Fortunato of murder, which could have put him
behind bars for life. At his sentencing, he will face a prison term of
between five and 25 years.
Prosecutors said Fortunato was the ringleader of a group of four
young men who cooked up a plan to rob a gay man. They connected with
Sandy online and lured him to Plum Beach under the pretext of sex,
prosecutors said.
The attackers beat Sandy and when he tried to run away they chased
him onto Brooklyn’s Belt Parkway, where he was struck by a car,
prosecutors said.
Fortunato tried to beat the hate crime rap by testifying that he too
was gay. "I could be homosexual or bisexual. … I was leading two
complete double lives," he said.
But prosecutors argued that Fortunato targeted Sandy because he was gay.
In a videotaped confession, co-defendant John Fox said Fortunato
told his cohorts he could find someone to rob in a gay chat room.
"He was telling us how, like, it’s easy to get them once you talk to
them, Fox said, referring to gay men. "They’ll come and meet you, and
we were gonna do it for the money."
Fox was convicted last week of similar charges.
A third suspect, Ilya Shurov, is awaiting trial. The fourth
defendant, Gary Timmons, took a plea deal in exchange for his testimony.