Mistrial declared in NY beating death of immigrant

[AlphaCentauri]

Source: AP

A mistrial was declared Tuesday after jurors deadlocked in the case against a man charged with a murder as hate crime in the beating death of an Ecuadorean immigrant.

Keith Phoenix pleaded not guilty in the death of Jose Sucuzhanay and attempted assault of his brother, Romel Sucuzhanay, on Dec. 7, 2008. Prosecutors said Phoenix yelled racial and anti-gay slurs at the men and cracked Jose Sucuzhanay's skull while beating him with an aluminum baseball bat in a Brooklyn neighborhood.

Jurors deliberated for more than 30 hours over four days. They requested hours of testimony and re-watched a video of Phoenix admitting that he hit the victim with a bat. On Monday, they said they were deadlocked on one count but did not specify which one. They were twice given orders by Judge Patricia DiMango that they had to reach a unanimous verdict.

At about 9 p.m. Tuesday, the jury sent a note to the judge saying one of the jurors was refusing to deliberate. DiMango asked them if it would be helpful to go home for the night and resume Wednesday. They shook their heads no.



Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jdNb-rrng8if3YiYEqVaOdJCoCkQD9FL1B901

[JI7]

1. probably some bigot who is ok with what happened

[Lance_Boyle]

5. Not your garden-variety Archie-Bunker-type bigot, but maybe a George-Jefferson-type bigot

The defendants are black.

[No Elephants]

7. A bigot juror can't decide he hates immigrants if the

defendants are African American unless the juror is African American, too?

:wtf:

[earcandle]

2. How can they mistrial when the guy admitted he did it with an aluminum baseball bat?

You don't need a deliberation with a confession, do you?  

What a racket, if this is true.  No justice in our justice,
huh?

[boppers]

3. My guess:

It was over pre-meditation, or some similar question on a charge.

I'm guessing the hung juror has never bean beaten with a bat, or, conversely, used to get beaten (or beat others) with similar implements.

[AlphaCentauri]

4. yeah, maybe a sweet hart juror n/t

[Lurks Often]

6. Jury might not have felt that a murder conviction was the right charge.

Reading between the lines of the article, the impression I got was that while a manslaughter charge would have been a slam dunk for the jury to find him guilty, not all of them felt the evidence, specifically the mindset or intent of the defendant, supported a murder conviction.