No Bail for Jeffrey Conroy

Without comment, state Supreme Court Justice Robert Doyle denied Jeffrey Conroy bail and ordered him back to jail. Conroy - who is being held on charges that include second-degree murder as a hate crime, manslaughter and gang assault - pleaded not guilty to all charges. His lawyer, William Keahon of Islandia, says that his client is innocent and he intends to prove it.

"I promise that the district attorney's office will not and cannot convict my client because he is innocent," Keahon said.

Jeffrey Conroy, 17, is accused of stabbing to death 37-year-old Marcelo Lucero on Nov. 8 2008 during a racially-motivated gang assault involving himself and 6 other teens from Patchogue-Medford High School in Long Island, NY. In fact the 7 teens had been "beaner jumping" - a derogatory term used to signify that they were looking for Hispanics to beat up - that night.

They had picked on other Hispanics before encountering Lucero. After hurling racial epithets at Lucero - who was from Ecuador -  the teens proceeded to punch and kick him. Lucero unsuccessfully tried to defend himself with the belt from his pants but he was hopelessly overwhelmed by the teens. The brawl ended when Conroy plunged his knife into Lucero's chest, killing him.


Also charged were:

Jordan Dasch, Nicholas Hausch, Kevin Shea, and Anthony Hartford, all 17 years old from Medford;

Christopher Overton, 16, and Jose Pacheco, 17, of East Patchogue;

Bail was set by Suffolk County Court Judge C. Randall Hinrichs at $250,000 cash or $500,000 bond for 5 of the 6 teens.

Christopher Overton was held without bail, citing the suspect’s previous felony conviction in connection with a botched 2007 burglary that left homeowner Carlton Shaw Sr., 38, dead on the lawn of his East Patchogue home.

Suffolk District Attorney Thomas Spota insisted his office had a "very, very strong case" against Conroy and the other six defendants. Spota said the hate crime charges should send a message to the would-be perpetrators of other bias attacks.

"The clear-cut message," Spota said, "is we in Suffolk County, we do take it very seriously."

The indictments of the 6 teens were announced the same day as the funeral was held for Marcelo Lucero in Ecuador. His grieving mother, Rosario, said the latest indictments were nothing to celebrate but the charges are "well deserved. They need to understand the pain they have caused us."
Marcello Lucero liked playing volleyball and lifting weights. He rented movies with friends and called his mother in Ecuador several times a week. Lucero was 10 when his father died of a heart attack. "Suddenly, he became the man of the house and had to help my mother raise three younger siblings," said his brother, also known as Efriam. "He never complained. There were so few opportunities at home," his brother said. "He wanted the American dream." So he traveled to the United States.

"Even though he'd been in the United States for 16 years, he always said, 'I miss home. I'm going back,'" his brother Joselo said yesterday. "Now he'll never be able to go home."

The following set of videos show a part of the life of Marcelo Lucero and the struggles that some immigrants go through to find a better life for themselves and their families.

Many men travel to the US leaving behind their families including children who miss their fathers very much:

It is sometimes difficult to understand the conditions that motivate immigrants - many of them illegal - to leave in their homeland in search of work to send back money to improve the lives of their loved ones.

The funeral for Marcelo was attended by hundreds from the town of Gualaceo, Ecuador, where he was born and lived, until coming to the U.S. His mother, Rosario and sister, Isabel, carried his ashes to the church and the cemetery followed by crowds of well-wishers.

R.I.P.

Marcelo Lucero

1971 - 2008

Marcelo Lucero - A Victim of Racism

On Nov. 8th 2008, Marcelo Lucero, 37, of Patchogue, L.I. was murdered by Jeffrey Conroy, 17, who plunged a knife into his chest during a gang assault. Conroy has now been charged with second-degree murder as a hate crime - the first time on Long Island someone has faced such a charge - along with the original charge of first-degree manslaughter as a hate crime. Conroy could face 25 years to life in prison if convicted. His bail has not yet been set.

But Jeffrey Conroy was not alone. In fact he was a member of a gang of 7 teenagers - all between 16 and 17, students at Patchogue-Medford High School - who were out ''beaner jumping,'' a derogatory term they used as a euphemism for attacking Hispanics.

The other 6 teenagers involved in this incident were all charged with gang assault, conspiracy, attempted assault and attempted gang assault. They face 5 to 25 years in prison if convicted.

Charged were:

Jordan Dasch, Nicholas Hausch, Kevin Shea, and Anthony Hartford, all 17 years old from Medford;

Christopher Overton, 16, and Jose Pacheco, 17, of East Patchogue;

Bail was set by Suffolk County Court Judge C. Randall Hinrichs at $250,000 cash or $500,000 bond for 5 of the 6 teens.

Christopher Overton was held without bail, citing the suspect's previous felony conviction in connection with a botched 2007 burglary that left homeowner Carlton Shaw Sr., 38, dead on the lawn of his East Patchogue home.

Nicolas Hausch and Jordan Dasch also were each charged with another count of second-degree assault as a hate crime after they attacked Marlon Garcia in front of his home with a BB gun about 5 a.m. that day, prosecutors said.

Suffolk District Attorney Thomas Spota said the seven students charged in the attack admitted they regularly beat Hispanics for fun. He said one of the accused attackers, Anthony Hartford, 17, of Medford, told police "I don't go out doing this very often, maybe once a week."

"That statement provides a true window into the mindset of these defendants," Spota said. "To them, it was a sport."

It all began on the morning of Nov. 8th when two of the accused teens, Nicolas Hausch and Jordan Dasch started out from their homes in the hamlet of Medford at the crack of dawn to look for Hispanics to terrorize. Their first victim was a Hispanic man, Marlon Garcia, who was standing in his driveway. The pair took aim at him with a BB gun and shot him several times.

That same evening the two teens met up with five more of their friends and decided to continue "beaner jumping". At about 11:30 pm the gang found and beat a Hispanic man, Hector Sierra, 55, in neighboring Patchogue, but he was able to escape.

Sierra said he noticed a light-colored sport utility vehicle driving by slowly. "I had the impression I was being watched," said Sierra, adding that he continued walking. The SUV stopped about 40 yards away at Thorne Street, Sierra said, and four males with closely cropped hair jumped out. "Out of the corner of my eye, I could see them running really fast," he said.

"They punched me twice on the side of my head, then they struck me on the back of the head and I fell in the middle of the street," Hector Sierra said of the Nov. 8 attack by four male teenagers. "They kicked me, and I thought, 'they're going to kill me.'"

Sierra said he got up and rushed to a home near Oak Street, pounding his fists on the windows, kicking the front door and yelling for help until the assailants ran away. "They never said anything," he said. "It was a hunt ... It was very dark."

Just before midnight Saturday, Marcelo Lucero, an Ecuadorean immigrant, and a pal were walking to another friend's home when the teens piled out of an SUV yelling racial epithets. As his friend ran, Lucero pulled his leather belt from his waist to defend himself. He managed to strike one of them. But he was no match for the thugs and was soon overwhelmed.

Kevin Shea later boasted, " 'I punched him, I got him good. I saw blood coming down,' " police sources said.

At one point, Lucero managed to scramble to his feet. That's when Jeffrey Conroy, a lacrosse and wrestling star who sources said has a swastika tattoo on his thigh, allegedly stabbed him in the chest.
 

"This was not some high-school prank," Assistant Suffolk DA Nancy Clifford said "This was a well-thought-out crime specifically targeting Hispanics." In their own words they decided beforehand,  'Let's go find some Mexicans to f- - - up.'