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Mixed Reaction to the Jeffrey Conroy Verdict From the Ecuadorian Government and Joselo Lucero

Posted April 19, 2010 by Ted Hesson
Categories: Hate Watch

This morning, Jeffrey Conroy was convicted of first-degree manslaughter as a hate crime for stabbing and killing Ecuadorian immigrant Marcelo Lucero in November 2008. For that post, click here.

In response to the verdict, I posted some quotes from Fernando Mateo, the Lucero family spokesman; Joselo Lucero, Marcelo’s brother; and Rev. Allan Ramirez of the Brookville Reformed Church.

Those quotes largely portrayed the verdict as acceptable, if not ideal. As the Lucero family spokesman, Mateo said that the Suffolk County district attorney’s office “set a national precedent on how to try hate crimes.” Throughout the afternoon, Joselo repeatedly told the media that he was “satisfied” with the verdict.

I should mention, though, that I spoke with Pablo Calle, a U.S. representative of the Ecuadorian National Department of the Migrant, and Calle said that he felt that Conroy’s actions qualified for a second-degree murder conviction as a hate crime. My notebook is at the office, but I will post quotes from Calle tomorrow.

In addition, the Spanish-language news agency EFE quoted Joselo Lucero saying that, “The charges aren’t the ones that we wanted. There is a charge that’s very important, and that’s the hate crime charge, but that doesn’t involve a life sentence.”

The main difference between the two charges is what Conroy intended to do when he stabbed Lucero.

In choosing first-degree manslaughter, the jury decided that when Conroy stabbed Lucero, he intended to seriously injure his victim, but instead killed him. The second-degree murder charge would have meant that the jury believed that Conroy intended to kill Lucero during the attack.

Some people I’ve spoken with have had the mistaken idea that Conroy needed to plan the killing in advance of the attack to be convicted of second-degree murder, but that’s not the case. A murderer’s intent can be formed moments before the crime.

When I spoke with Pablo Calle, he referenced the force of the stabbing as evidence that Conroy intended to murder Lucero.

The stab wound showed that the four-inch knife was thrust into Lucero’s chest until it reached the hilt, according to a medical examiner who testified at the trial.

That said, the knife did not travel four inches deep. The weapon traveled sideways, penetrating 3/4 of an inch to one inch below the skin, and cutting a vein and an artery in the process. Lucero died from the wound.

Either way, the verdict is a bittersweet outcome for the Lucero family, who will never recover the loss of a son, brother, and uncle.

Tags : hate crimes, jeffrey conroy, marcelo lucero

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