Guilty Verdict in Killing of Long Island Man

Joselo Lucero, left, and his mother Maria Rosario Lucero visited the spot where his brother, Marcelo Lucero, was killed in Patchogue in 2008.

By MANNY FERNANDEZ
Published: April 19, 2010

The New York Times

RIVERHEAD, N.Y. — The white teenager accused of killing an Ecuadorean immigrant in a racially motivated attack was convicted on Monday of manslaughter as a hate crime, in a case that put a spotlight on anti-Hispanic violence on Long Island.The verdict in State Supreme Court came 17 months after the fatal stabbing in 2008 in Patchogue. The teenager, Jeffrey Conroy, was also found guilty of gang assault in the attack on the immigrant, Marcelo Lucero, as well as attempted assault on three other Hispanic men. He was acquitted of the most serious of the 20 charges against him, second-degree murder as a hate crime.

On the first-degree manslaughter charge alone, Mr. Conroy, 19, faces a minimum of eight years and a maximum of 25 years in prison when he is sentenced by Justice Robert W. Doyle on May 26. Had Mr. Conroy been convicted of the murder charge, the maximum possible punishment was life in prison...link to complete article