Four men who committed three hate crime assaults in response to
President Barack Obama's election victory have been sentenced by U.S. District
Judge Carol B. Amon in federal court in Brooklyn, N.Y.
Ralph Nicoletti, 19, was sentenced to 108 months in prison; Bryan
Garaventa, 18, was sentenced to 60 months; Michael Contreras, 19, was sentenced
to 55 months; and Brian Carranza, 21, was sentenced to 70 months. The
sentencing was Sept. 11.
On Nov. 4, 2008, following the announcement of President Obama's
victory in the presidential election, the defendants set out to assault
African-Americans in Staten Island, N.Y, because they believed the victims had
voted for the President.
Nicoletti drove the group to the Park Hill section of Staten
Island, a predominantly African American neighborhood, where they encountered
an African American teenager and assaulted him. Nicoletti struck the teenager
with a metal pipe and Garaventa hit him with a collapsible police baton.
Nicoletti then drove to the Port Richmond section of Staten Island, where the
defendants assaulted an unidentified African American man, knocking him to the
ground.
The third assault was against an individual whom the defendants
mistakenly believed was African American.
The plan was for Contreras to hit the victim with the police baton
as the defendants drove by him. Instead, Nicoletti deliberately drove his car
into the victim's body.
The victim was thrown onto the hood of the car and hit the front
windshield, smashing it. The victim was seriously injured and remained in a
coma for several weeks after the attack.
"It is appalling that such hateful acts of racially motivated
violence continue to persist in our nation. These sentences should remind those
inspired to violence by hate that they will be brought to justice," said
Acting Assistant Attorney General Loretta King for the Civil Rights Division.
"We applaud the prosecutors and law enforcement agencies that
participated in this investigation and prosecution. The Civil Rights Division
will remain vigilant in our efforts to combat hate crimes that tear at the very
fabric of our great nation and seek to undermine the progress we've made in
advancing civil rights for all." Special to the NNPA from the St. Louis
American
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