Mark Carson murder: jury finds New York man guilty of anti-gay hate crime

Source: The Guardian

A New York jury found Elliot Morales, the man accused of a hate crime for the shooting death of Mark Carson, guilty of all charges on Tuesday.

Carson, a gay man, was killed by Morales on 17 May 2013 after a brief verbal dispute in New York’s West Village neighborhood. The second degree murder charge, with the hate crime designation, carries a prison term of life without parole. The jury of eight women and four men deliberated for just over one day before reaching their verdict.

“I feel like I got justice for my nephew,” said Florence Bupurs, Carson’s aunt who attended much of the emotional two-week trial. Speaking on behalf of the family, she said that “even if I don’t feel like [the verdict] is enough, it will have to be enough ... It’s closure”.

Adding to the drama of trial, which spanned several weeks, was the fact that Morales, 36, was deemed fit to represent himself after rejecting four public defenders assigned to him by the court. For Carson’s supporters this meant not just having to be in the same courtroom as Morales, but having to listen to him examine witnesses each day. It also meant for Carson’s friend Danny Robinson, who was with Carson at the time he was shot, having to answer questions posed by his friend’s killer.

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Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/mar/09/elliot-morales-guilty-new-york-hate-crime-anti-gay-shooting-west-village