Man Accused Of Beating Immigrant To Death And Beating His Brother Because “He Didn’t Like What They Looked Like”

Hakim Scott and Keith Phoenix have pleaded not guilty to second degree murder as a hate crime and assault in the beating death of Jose Sukuzhanay (left) and his brother Ramel. Phoenix says he acted in self defense when Jose Sukuzhanay reached for a gun.  The Sukuzhanay brothers were walking home from a bar after a party when Scott and Phoenix pulled up along side them in an SUV, and a fight ensued.

Scott smashed a beer bottle over Jose’s head and chased Romel with it, while Phoenix beat Jose “over and over again” with an aluminum bat, [prosecutor Josh] Hanshaft said, while the men shouted anti-gay and anti-Hispanic slurs.

Jose Sucuzhanay went into a coma and died several days later as his mother was en route from Ecuador to see him. He was buried in Ecuador.

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The brothers were attacked because Phoenix “didn’t like what they looked like,” Hanshaft said. “He didn’t like that they were Hispanic. From his eye, it appeared they were a gay couple – a way of life he didn’t like and wasn’t going to tolerate.”

By: Alan

Alan Colmes is the publisher of Liberaland.