Jose Sucuzhanay died after being brutally beaten by a group of men in what's been described as a possible hate crime killing. The 31-year-old Sucuzhanay, an Ecuadorian immigrant, was attacked while walking with his brother about a block from their Brooklyn, New York, home on Sunday, December 7, 2008. According to reports, the attackers shouted anti-Hispanic and anti-Gay racial slurs while beating Sucuzhanay with an aluminum baseball bat. Sucuzhanay died from his injuries on Friday, December 12, 2008.CNN: Hundreds protest New York immigrant's fatal beating Newsday.com: Calls for Justice after Ecuadorean's beating death
Police made two arrests connected to the fatal beating in a one-week span in February 2009. 25-year-old Hakim Scott was arrested on February 24, 2009 and was charged with second degree murder as a hate crime. 28-year-old Keith Phoenix was arrested on February 27, 2009.CNN: Second arrest made in immigrant's fatal beating Both men pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder as a hate crime on March 20, 2009 and face 78 years in prison if convicted.The Huffington Post: 2 brothers plead innocent in NY hate-crime killing
