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Copyright 1997 Daily News, L.P.
Daily News (New York)
January 31, 1997, Friday
SECTION: Suburban; Pg. 1
LENGTH: 394 words
HEADLINE: PAROLE BID IN GAY SLAY
DRAWS FLAK
BYLINE: By PETE DONOHUE
BODY:
Gay and lesbian activists are waging a campaign
to deny parole to one of the accomplices in the brutal 1990 murder of
gay bartender Julio Rivera in a Jackson Heights schoolyard.
Activists are calling on elected officials
and the public to fax parole authorities letters demanding that Erik Brown
not be released after serving about five years in prison for Rivera's
death.
Brown confessed to luring Rivera deep into
the courtyard of Public School 69, known as a gay cruising location, so
he could be attacked by two of Brown's cohorts. Rivera targeted simply
because he was gay was bludgeoned and stabbed to death.
"This was a brutal, pre-meditated murder
. . . and Brown made it possible," said Chris Quinn, executive director
of the Gay and Lesbian Anti-Violence Project. "He was the Judas in this
scenario."
Brown, who last year pleaded guilty to manslaughter
and was sentenced to five to 15 years in prison, has a hearing before
the Parole Board in March, parole officials said. He has been jailed since
his arrest in 1991 and has received credit for time served.
Russell Morea, Brown's attorney, said he
hoped the board considers all the facts, including Brown's remorse.
"He feels terrible about what happened,"
Morea said. "It was not something he wanted to happen. It was something
he went along with, unfortunately, and will have to live with for the
rest of his life." Morea added that Brown "tried to do the right thing"
when he pleaded guilty and agreed to testify against co-defendant Esat
Bici.
Prosecutors have claimed that Brown, Bici
and Daniel Doyle were skinhead racists. Morea says Brown was an art student
who meekly followed two more sinister characters.
Doyle, who inflicted the fatal stab wound,
pleaded guilty to manslaughter and is serving 81/3 to 25 years in prison.
He testified against Bici and Brown at a previous trial in 1991, in which
a jury convicted the two men of murder. The convictions were later overturned
on technicalities.
As prosecutors prepared for a second trial
last year, Bici, who posted bail and was released, went on the lam. He
is still at large.
City Controller Alan Hevesi is among the
politicians who already have agreed to oppose Brown's parole. "This was
a terrible, heinous, pre-meditated hate crime, and the perpetrator should
serve the maximum," said Hevesi.
LOAD-DATE: February 03, 1997
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Copyright 1997 The New York Times Company
The New York Times
View Related Topics
February 16, 1997, Sunday, Late Edition -
Final
SECTION: Section 13; Page 9; Column 1; The
City Weekly Desk
LENGTH: 279 words
HEADLINE: NEIGHBORHOOD REPORT: JACKSON HEIGHTS
-- UPDATE;
Parole Is Denied Skinhead in 1990 Anti-Gay
Murder
BYLINE: By CHARLIE LeDUFF
BODY:
The New York State Board
of Parole last Monday denied the request of Erik Brown, one of three skinheads
involved in the anti-gay murder of Julio Rivera in a Jackson Heights schoolyard
in 1990, for an early release from prison.
The slaying became national news when one
of the defendants said he killed Mr. Rivera simply "because he was gay."
On learning of the parole denial, Peg Rivera,
Mr. Rivera's sister-in-law, said: "We were pleased that he was denied
for another two years. We hope that he is at least made to serve the full
15."
In the early morning of July 2, 1990, Mr.
Brown, Esat Bici and Daniel Doyle left a party, shaved their heads, and
set out to pummel a gay man. Mr. Brown lured Mr. Rivera, a 29-year-old
bartender whom he did not know, to the P.S. 69 playground, on 37th Avenue,
and beat him with a hammer. Mr. Doyle, who admitted to stabbing Mr. Rivera
with a knife, is serving 8 1/3 to 25 years for manslaughter.
The 1991 murder convictions of Mr. Brown
and Mr. Bici were overturned last year on technical points. Mr. Brown,
who had served five years, agreed to a lesser charge of manslaughter in
exchange for his testimony against Mr. Bici. Free on a $350,000 bond,
Mr. Bici, 25, jumped bail last May and has been at large.
Commenting on the denial of Mr. Brown's parole,
Christine Quinn, executive director of the New York City Gay and Lesbian
Anti-Violence Project, said, "This is a victory because it keeps a dangerous
homophobe in jail," but added, "No one can be happy until Esat Bici is
in jail."
Mr. Brown, who has had disciplinary problems
while in prison, will be eligible for parole again in August 1998. CHARLIE
LeDUFF
GRAPHIC: Photo: Erik Brown at a court appearance.
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
LOAD-DATE: February 16, 1997
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Copyright 1997 Daily News, L.P.
Daily News (New York)
February 13, 1997, Thursday
SECTION: News; Pg. 80
LENGTH: 455 words
HEADLINE: BOARD NIXES PAROLE BID OF
GAY-BASH KILLER
BYLINE: By PETE DONOHUE
BODY:
A Queens thug who pleaded guilty in the bludgeoning
and stabbing death of a gay man has lost his bid for parole, officials
said yesterday.
A state parole board rejected the application
by Erik Brown, 26, cheering gay activists who had led a campaign to keep
him behind bars in the the 1990 gay-bashing slaying of Julio Rivera.
The decision also brought some measure of
relief to relatives of Rivera, a bartender who was killed in Jackson Heights.
"We're very satisfied," said Peg Rivera,
his sister-in-law. "Brown's actions were premeditated and hateful. He
didn't know Julio. He singled him out solely because he thought he was
gay."
Brown, of Queens, has served five years of
a sentence of five to 15 years for manslaughter. He confessed to luring
Rivera, 29, into the dark courtyard of Public School 69, known as a gay
cruising location, so Rivera could be attacked by two cohorts wielding
a knife and a hammer.
Prosecutors have described the three men
as skinhead racists who were hunting for a gay man to attack.
The board rendered its decision last week,
and it was made public Tuesday.
Brown cannot make another bid for freedom
until August 1998, a spokesman for the board said.
The board's decision noted the brutality
of the attack and Brown's history of drug and alcohol abuse. "You continue
to pose a significant risk to the safety and welfare of our community,"
the board said in a written statement to Brown.
The New York City Gay and Lesbian Anti-Violence
Project orchestrated a letter-writing campaign opposing Brown's release.
Mayor Giuliani, Controller Alan Hevesi and
City Council members Walter McCaffrey (D-Queens), Ken Fisher (D-Brooklyn)
and Tom Duane (D-Manhattan) were among those who wrote to the board, project
executive director Christine Quinn said.
Russell Morea, Brown's lawyer, said the board
succumbed to pressure and made a "political decision" to deny parole.
"The parole board in recent times has surrendered
its authority to politicians and organized letter writers," Morea said.
Brown was an art student, not a skinhead,
when he meekly followed two more sinister characters who led the attack,
Morea said. He is full of remorse, Morea said.
The man who stabbed Rivera, Daniel Doyle,
is serving a sentence of 81/3 to 25 years for manslaughter. Esat Bici,
who allegedly struck Rivera with the hammer, is on the lam.
Brown and Bici were convicted of murder after
a trial in 1991, but the convictions were overturned because the judge,
according to an Appellate Division panel, made procedural errors. Bici
was freed on bail and fled last year as prosecutors prepared for a second
trial, while Brown had pleaded guilty to manslaughter.
GRAPHIC: DEMONSTRATORS from lesbian
and gay groups in Queens in 1995 protest release of Erik Brown, convicted
in gay bartender's killing.
LOAD-DATE: February 13, 1997
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Copyright 1997 Daily News, L.P.
Daily News (New York)
January 31, 1997, Friday
SECTION: Suburban; Pg. 1
LENGTH: 394 words
HEADLINE: PAROLE BID IN GAY SLAY DRAWS
FLAK
BYLINE: By PETE DONOHUE
BODY:
Gay and lesbian activists are waging a campaign
to deny parole to one of the accomplices in the brutal 1990 murder of
gay bartender Julio Rivera in a Jackson Heights schoolyard.
Activists are calling on elected officials
and the public to fax parole authorities letters demanding that Erik Brown
not be released after serving about five years in prison for Rivera's
death.
Brown confessed to luring Rivera deep into
the courtyard of Public School 69, known as a gay cruising location, so
he could be attacked by two of Brown's cohorts. Rivera targeted simply
because he was gay was bludgeoned and stabbed to death.
"This was a brutal, pre-meditated murder
. . . and Brown made it possible," said Chris Quinn, executive director
of the Gay and Lesbian Anti-Violence Project. "He was the Judas in this
scenario."
Brown, who last year pleaded guilty to manslaughter
and was sentenced to five to 15 years in prison, has a hearing before
the Parole Board in March, parole officials said. He has been jailed since
his arrest in 1991 and has received credit for time served.
Russell Morea, Brown's attorney, said he
hoped the board considers all the facts, including Brown's remorse.
"He feels terrible about what happened,"
Morea said. "It was not something he wanted to happen. It was something
he went along with, unfortunately, and will have to live with for the
rest of his life." Morea added that Brown "tried to do the right thing"
when he pleaded guilty and agreed to testify against co-defendant Esat
Bici.
Prosecutors have claimed that Brown, Bici
and Daniel Doyle were skinhead racists. Morea says Brown was an art student
who meekly followed two more sinister characters.
Doyle, who inflicted the fatal stab wound,
pleaded guilty to manslaughter and is serving 81/3 to 25 years in prison.
He testified against Bici and Brown at a previous trial in 1991, in which
a jury convicted the two men of murder. The convictions were later overturned
on technicalities.
As prosecutors prepared for a second trial
last year, Bici, who posted bail and was released, went on the lam. He
is still at large.
City Controller Alan Hevesi is among the
politicians who already have agreed to oppose Brown's parole. "This was
a terrible, heinous, pre-meditated hate crime, and the perpetrator should
serve the maximum," said Hevesi.
LOAD-DATE: February 03, 1997
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5
Copyright 1996 Daily News, L.P.
Daily News (New York)
October 01, 1996, Tuesday
SECTION: Suburban; Pg. 3
LENGTH: 241 words
HEADLINE: MOST WANTED IN QUEENS
BYLINE: BY BLANCA M. QUINTANILLA
BODY:
SUSPECT: Esat Bici
Description: Male, 24 years old, 5-foot-8,
145 pounds, black hair and brown eyes.
The Queens warrant Squad has mounted a nationwide
search for former Elmhurst resident Esat Bici, who jumped bail while waiting
to be retried in connection with the gay-bashing slaying of Julio Rivera.
Bici was convicted of murder in 1991 and
was sentenced to 25 years to life, but his conviction was reversed.
He was free on $ 350,000 bail when he did
not show up for his new trial earlier this year, and a warrant was issued
for his arrest, said Sgt. Fred Wilson of the Queens warrant squad.
Prosecutors allege that on July 20, 1990,
Bici and two accomplices attacked and killed Rivera in the schoolyard
of Public School 69 in Jackson Heights.
Prosecutors say that the attackers used a
knife, a hammer and a wrench to commit the homicide, and that they killed
Rivera because they believed him to be gay.
Wilson said he has received numerous tips
that Bici has visited Queens. "He has a number of connections," Wilson
said. "It wouldn't surprise me if he's in Queens, Texas or upstate New
York."
If you have information on the whereabouts
of Esat Bici, call CRIMESTOPPERS toll-free at (800) 577-TIPS. CRIMESTOPPERS
will pay up to $ 1,000 for information leading to Bici's arrest and indictment.
All calls to the hotline are confidential. All suspects are considered
innocent until proven guilty in court.
GRAPHIC: Esat Bici
LOAD-DATE: October 01, 1996
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6
Copyright 1996 Daily News, L.P.
Daily News (New York)
July 29, 1996, Monday
SECTION: Suburban; Pg. 1
LENGTH: 492 words
HEADLINE: 10G OFFERED FOR GAY-SLAY FUGITIVE
BYLINE: By PETE DONOHUE
BODY:
Gay activists have posted a $ 10,000 reward
for information leading to the capture of an alleged skinhead gang member
charged in the fatal beating and stabbing of a homosexual in Jackson Heights.
The New York City Gay and Lesbian Anti-Violence
Project, which is posting the reward, also is conducting a letter-writing
campaign demanding that Esat Bici be prosecuted for murder and nothing
less. Activists don't want prosecutors to offer a plea deal that might
allow Bici to be sentenced to a lesser charge if he is captured.
"No deals, no pleas," Anti-Violence Project
Executive Director Christine Quinn said.
"The gay community and Julio Rivera do not
deserve that."
The police Crime Stoppers program is offering
another $ 1,000 reward.
Anyone with information should call (800)
577-TIPS. Bici also is slated to be featured on a September airing of
the television show "America's Most Wanted."
An assistant district attorney would not
comment on the no-plea demand.
Bici became a fugitive in May when he failed
to appear in court on his case, which was heading toward its second trial
in Queens Supreme Court. The first trial ended with his conviction for
murder, but it was overturned by a higher court.
Rivera was beaten and fatally stabbed in
July 1990 in an early morning attack on the grounds of Public School 69
in Jackson Heights. Prosecutors say three men took part in the killing:
Bici, Daniel Doyle and Erik Brown. They targeted Rivera, 29, because he
was a homosexual, Brown has admitted in court.
Authorities said Doyle and Bici were members
of a group that called itself DMS, which has had several meanings over
the years, including Doc Martin Stompers and Death Machine Skinheads.
Doyle, who inflicted the fatal stab wound,
has pleaded guilty to manslaughter, testified against the other two and
was sentenced to 81/3 to 25 years in prison. Brown also pleaded guilty
to manslaughter and was sentenced Friday to five to 15 years behind bars.
Brown said he engaged Rivera in conversation
in the school courtyard, setting him up for an attack by Doyle and Bici.
Doyle and Bici were armed with a knife, a hammer and a wrench, Brown said.
Brown, who never made bail even after his
initial conviction with Bici was overturned has been imprisoned since
November 1991, and will be eligible for parole consideration later this
year, authorities said.
Bici went on the lam May 15 one day after
Brown pleaded guilty and vowed to testify against Bici at trial. Bici
was free on bail at the time.
Rivera's relatives, meanwhile, are looking
forward to the day when a shackled Bici is brought back to court and convicted.
Peg Rivera, Julio's sister-in-law, said relatives are confident that District
Attorney Richard Brown's office and the Police Departmentwill track Bici
down.
"Today marks two out of three," Peg Rivera
said. "We will be standing here again and it will be three out of three."
LOAD-DATE: July 29, 1996
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Copyright 1996 Daily News, L.P.
Daily News (New York)
July 21, 1996, Sunday
SECTION: Suburban; Pg. 1
LENGTH: 779 words
HEADLINE: HEIGHTENED CRIME AWARENESS
GROUP TAKES AIM AT VIOLENCE IN GAY WORLD
OF JACKSON HTS.
BYLINE: By CLAIRE SERANT
BODY:
JACKSON HEIGHTS, the multi-cultural mecca
in the heart of Queens, has also become home to the city's largest gay
and lesbian community outside of Manhattan.
But their heightened visibility has also
brought an increase in the number of bias-related crimes and reports of
same-sex domestic violence, most notably the gay-bashing killing of Julio
Rivera in 1990.
As a result, the Gay and Lesbian Anti-Violence
Project (AVP), a social services agency that monitors criminal acts against
and within the gay community citywide, will open its first satellite office
on 37th Ave. in Jackson Heights by the end of the month.
"It made perfect sense to us . . . to do
outreach in the outer boroughs," said Christine Quinn, executive director
of AVP.
"Jackson Heights has a large and active gay
population . . . growing over the past five or six years."
Last year, the Manhattan-based nonprofit
group documented 625 bias crimes citywide, ranging from verbal harassments
and assaults to killings that were reported to their office.
There were 56 incidents reported in Queens
in 1995, up from 38 the year before, Quinn said.
Law enforcement officials praise the anti-violence
project's decision to open auxiliary offices both in Jackson Heights and
Brooklyn.
AVP also plans to open a site in Park Slope
in September.
But, said, Eric Rosenbaum, an assistant Queens
district attorney: "Bias crimes aren't on the increase."
"There's greater awareness of violent crimes,"
said Rosenbaum, who also serves as a liaison to the gay and lesbian community
for Queens District Attorney Richard Brown.
"We'll be able to get information quickly,
and the increased visibility lets the community know that an advocacy
group has moved in," he said.
Quinn insisted that AVP's bias statistics
are higher than those of most law enforcement agencies because many gays
are reluctant to report crimes to authorities.
AVP's Queens site will be located three blocks
from the Jackson Heights schoolyard to which Julio Rivera was lured, then
beaten and stabbed to death six years ago. The 29-year-old bartender's
senseless killing outraged the gay community.
Three men allegedly associated with a skinhead
gang were arrested in connection with the slaying.
One of them testified in court against the
other two and helped convict them of murder. But the convictions were
reversed last year. A re-trial is pending.
It was Rivera's slaying that galvanized the
borough's gay community to use their growing numbers to become politically
active, said Ed Sedarbaum, founder of Queens Gays and Lesbians United
(QGLU), a five-year-old group born of the killing of Rivera.
"Like any community, we're in need of social
services. The political progress we've made by establishing ourselves
outside Manhattan could disappear overnight," said Sedarbaum, who is director
of SAGE/Queens, an Astoria-based gay and lesbian senior citizen program.
Although Queens has hosted the largest Gay
Pride parade outside Manhattan every year since 1992, there is fear within
the community about homophobic violence, said John Azzali, QGLU's co-chairman.
"Attacks on [gay] people have not gone down,"
said Azzali, who moved to Jackson Heights from Ridgewood four years ago.
"Having the [anti-violence] project here
will make a dent in the bias crime against us. It will make it easier
for people to come forward."
The Jackson Heights office, Quinn said, will
be housed in the same building as the Hispanic AIDS Forum, a social service
agency.
Two project staffers will be available to
the community on a part-time basis, while an outreach plan is being developed.
Sedarbaum, a 17-year Jackson Heights resident,
said the neighborhood has always been home to a large number of gay bars
and public areas where gays congregate.
"Jackson Heights always had a gay nightlife.
It was kept secret for self-protection," Sedarbaum pointed out.
Knowledge of the gay community's presence
often brings gay bashers into the area, Sedarbaum said, adding, "They
come to our neighborhoods to find us."
The Queens office will also address the issue
of domestic violence within gay households.
"It's a chance to empower gay people and
break the isolation of domestic violence," said Chris Drumm, an AVP staffer
who will work in the Queens office.
"It's impossible for some people to admit
they are being battered. It's important for perpetrators to know there's
an organization that knows and cares and monitors responses."
Another AVP staffer, Hector Seda, said, "We're
very excited. Queens is a mix of so many cultures, we're going to help
a lot of people."
GRAPHIC: THOMAS MONASTER DAILY NEWS
HELP IS HERE: Gay and Lesbian Anti-Violence Project staffers Hector Seda
(left) and Chris Drumm confer in office on 37th St. in Jackson Heights.
"It's important for perpetrators to know there's an organization that
knows and cares and monitors responses," says Drumm.
LOAD-DATE: July 22, 1996
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Copyright 1996 The New York Times Company
The New York Times
May 19, 1996, Sunday, Late Edition
- Final
SECTION: Section 13; Page 8;
Column 4; The City Weekly Desk
LENGTH: 383 words
HEADLINE: NEIGHBORHOOD REPORT: JACKSON
HEIGHTS;
Still Waiting for Justice in Gay-Bias Killing
BYLINE: By DAVID W. DUNLAP
BODY:
"Justice for Julio" was
the refrain in Jackson Heights six years ago after Julio Rivera,
a 29-year-old bartender, was lured into a gay cruising area on 37th Avenue
by assailants who beat him and stabbed him to death. For months, gay organizers
prodded the authorities to handle the case with a greater sense of urgency.
When Erik Brown and Esat Bici were convicted
in 1991 of second-degree murder, homosexuals thought justice had been
done. A third man, Daniel Doyle, had already admitted to stabbing Mr.
Rivera.
Their feelings of vindication began to erode
last year, however, when the convictions were overturned by an appeals
court. Now, any sense of justice has vanished.
Mr. Bici, who was free on $350,000 bail,
failed to appear for a court hearing Tuesday, a day after Mr. Brown pleaded
guilty to a lesser charge of manslaughter and agreed to testify against
him. Judge Thomas A. Demakos revoked Mr. Bici's bail and ordered his arrest.
His lawyer, Barry Gene Rhodes, said that neither he nor the Bici family
had heard from the young man.
Douglas Sullavan, 75, a Jackson Heights resident,
sounded angry but not surprised that the defendant disappeared. "The law,
the system is not taking this matter as seriously as they should," Mr.
Sullavan said.
The latest development in the Rivera case
will almost surely dampen the fourth annual gay pride march on June 2
along 37th Avenue, between 75th and 89th Streets. For the last few years,
when the lead contingent reaches the yard of Public School 69, where Mr.
Rivera was killed, the marchers have paused for a moment of silence.
Daniel Dromm, co-chairman of the Queens Lesbian
and Gay Pride Committee, said he and others were considering a protest.
But several residents said indignation might be giving way to resignation.
"People are so drawn out that we get deadened,"
said Howard Cruse, 52, an author. "In some ways, it's analagous to dealing
with the epidemic. If everything had happened in the space of a week,
you'd have people pouring into Sheridan Square."
Daniel Castellanos, 32, who works at the
Hispanic AIDS Forum, also noted an erosion of outrage. "You can be angry
the first time, and angry the second time, and angry the third time,"
he said. "But then you see that there is no point." DAVID
W. DUNLAP
GRAPHIC: Photo: Esat Bici, left, and
Erik Brown were convicted of murder in 1991. (Photographs by Steve Berman
for The New York Times)
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
LOAD-DATE: May 21, 1996
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Copyright 1996 Daily News, L.P.
Daily News (New York)
May 15, 1996, Wednesday
SECTION: Suburban; Pg. 1
LENGTH: 317 words
HEADLINE: GAY SLAY SUSPECT GOES ON
THE LAM
BYLINE: By PETER DONOHUE
BODY:
A Queens man charged with the gay-bashing
murder of bartender Julio Rivera apparently went on the lam yesterday
one day after his alleged accomplice vowed to testify for prosecutors,
authorities said.
Queens Supreme Court Justice Thomas Demakos
yesterday issued an arrest warrant for Esat Bici after Bici failed to
appear at a pre-trial hearing on charges that he killed Rivera in Jackson
Heights in 1990.
As of press time yesterday, Bici was still
at large.
On Monday, co-defendant Erik Brown pleaded
guilty to manslaughter in connection with the killing of Rivera, who was
beaten and stabbed to death. Brown said Bici, 24, of Elmhurst, took part
in the attack and vowed to testify during Bici's upcoming trial.
"He's gone," Bici's attorney Barry Rhodes
of Brooklyn, said. "Mr. Bici is a fugitive." Bici was free on $ 350,000
bail.
To Rivera's relatives, Bici's flight confirmed
Bici is not innocent. "This shows his guilt," sister-in-law Peg Rivera
said. "We feel vindicated. We now know we were not hounding innocent people."
Rhodes said he was stunned by Bici's disappearance.
He last spoke to Bici Monday night and Bici was confident that he could
win his case, Rhodes said.
Bici and Brown were convicted of Rivera's
murder in 1991 and sentenced to 25 years to life in prison. However, those
convictions were overturned on technicalities.
On Monday, Brown said he engaged Rivera in
a conversation outside Public School 69, setting him up for an attack
by Bici and a third man, Daniel Doyle. Brown said Bici was armed with
a hammer and Doyle had a knife.
Rivera, 29, was targeted by the trio, alleged
members of a skinhead gang, because they suspected he was a homosexual,
Brown said.
Doyle testified for the prosecution during
the first trial. He is serving a state prison sentence for manslaughter.
He inflicted the fatal stab wound, authorities said.
LOAD-DATE: May 15, 1996
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Copyright 1996 Daily News, L.P.
Daily News (New York)
May 14, 1996, Tuesday
SECTION: Suburban; Pg. 1
LENGTH: 432 words
HEADLINE: MAN PLEADS GUILTY IN FATAL
GAY BASHING
BYLINE: By PETE DONOHUE
BODY:
A Jackson Heights man pleaded guilty yesterday
to taking part in the schoolyard slaying of Julio Rivera a killing
that sparked rage in the gay community.
Erik Brown, 25, engaged Rivera in conversation
outside a Jackson Heights school in July 1990, setting him up for an assault
by two cohorts Esat Bici and Daniel Doyle Brown said yesterday in Kew
Gardens Supreme Court.
Rivera, who was gay, was targeted because
the three alleged members of a skinhead gang suspected he was homosexual,
Brown said.
"I was to speak to him, detain him, while
Mr. Bici and Mr. Doyle attacked him," Brown said without emotion. "That's
exactly what happened."
Rivera, 29, was beaten and fatally stabbed
in the early morning attack outside Public School 69, on 37th Ave.
Brown, who faced 25 years to life if convicted
of murder, pleaded guilty to manslaughter before Justice Thomas Demakos.
Under the deal, Brown faces up to 15 years in prison and will testify
against Bici at his upcoming retrial.
Doyle, also of Jackson Heights, also pleaded
guilty to manslaughter and is serving a sentence of 81/3 to 25 years behind
bars.
Brown and Bici, who is from Elmhurst, were
convicted of murder in 1991. The convictions, however, were overturned
on technicalities one of which involved jury selection. The Appellate
Division found Justice Ralph Sherman, who has retired, wrongly excluded
the public from part of the questioning of potential jurors.
Ted Rivera, the victim's brother, said he
was "not happy" with the plea agreement but accepted it as a way to insure
that Bici will be prosecuted.
"I feel these men, these cowards, are guilty,
and they were proven guilty," Ted Rivera said outside the courtroom. "They
butchered my brother."
Matt Foreman, executive director of the Gay
and Lesbian Anti-Violence Project, called the plea deal "tolerable" in
light of the fact that the convictions were overturned. But he blasted
police for allegedly failing to investigate the slaying properly early
in the case noting, for example, that the knife used to kill Rivera was
not recovered.
Doyle, 25, testified against Bici and Brown
during the first trial. Doyle inflicted the fatal knife wound, authorities
said. Bici was armed with a hammer and a wrench, Brown said yesterday.
Assistant District Attorney Richard Schaeffer
yesterday told Demakos that he has been unable to locate a witness from
the first trial. That witness testified that Bici bragged about the attack
on Rivera. Earlier this year, Doyle's attorney said his client may not
testify at a second trial.
LOAD-DATE: May 14, 1996
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Copyright 1996 Daily News, L.P.
Daily News (New York)
February 22, 1996, Thursday
SECTION: Suburban; Pg. 2
LENGTH: 406 words
HEADLINE: DA WITNESS BALKS AT GAY SLAY RETRIAL
BYLINE: By PETE DONOHUE
BODY:
The key prosecution witness in a gay-bashing
murder case that galvanized Queens' gay community may not take the stand
in the retrial.
Prosecutors have appealed to Daniel Doyle,
who participated in the 1990 slaying of Julio Rivera in a Jackson Heights
schoolyard and was a key witness in the first trial, to testify against
his two alleged accomplices again.
But Doyle, who is now serving time in a state
prison for manslaughter, has so far refused to make such a commitment,
his attorney said.
"Whether he will or will not remains to be
seen," Doyle's attorney, Jeffrey Schlanger, said. "He is under no obligation
to testify."
The case against Erik Brown and Esat Bici
is marked to go to trial in Queens Supreme Court tomorrow. It is expected,
however, to be postponed for reasons not related to Doyle, authorities
said.
Prosecutors say Rivera, 29, a bartender,
was lured into a PS 69 courtyard and attacked by the three allegedly associated
with a skinhead gang because he was gay. He was bludgeoned and stabbed
to death, with Doyle, now 25, inflicting the fatal stab wound.
As part of a deal struck under former Queens
District Attorney John Santucci, Doyle pleaded guilty to manslaughter
and testified against Brown and Bici in a 1991 trial. The two men were
convicted of murder and sentenced to up to 25 years in prison. Doyle received
a sentence of 81/5 to 25 years in prison.
But the Appellate Division last year overturned
the convictions, citing errors by the trial judge, and ordered a new trial.
Doyle's deal called for him to testify once
not repeatedly, lawyers said.
Prosecutors expect they will be allowed to
read Doyle's testimony from the prior trial to a new jury. But that may
have less impact, prosecutors and defense lawyers said.
Barry Rhodes, Bici's attorney, said Doyle
was an imposing character on the stand during the first trial.
"Reading his testimony is not nearly as dramatic
as seeing the guy," Rhodes said, recalling how the 6-foot-5 Doyle seemed
to barely fit in the witness box.
"He was frightening. He was perfect [for
the prosecution]. . . . he's a scary guy. He made my blood go cold."
The killing sparked outrage in the city's
gay community and led to the formation of Queens Gays and Lesbians United.
Activists from the Gay and Lesbian Anti-Violence Project and other groups
monitored the case and demanded that Rivera's killers be punished.
LOAD-DATE: February 22, 1996
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12
Copyright 1995 Daily News, L.P.
Daily News (New York)
September 05, 1995, Tuesday
SECTION: Suburban; Pg. 1
LENGTH: 479 words
HEADLINE: GAY GROUP FOCUSING ON SLAY
RETRIAL
BYLINE: By MIGUEL GARCILAZO
BODY:
Five years ago, Julio Rivera was ruthlessly
stabbed and bludgeoned to death in the courtyard of a Jackson Heights
elementary school allegedly by three men who killed him because he was
gay.
The cold-blooded killing shattered the family
of Rivera, 29, and brought cries of outrage from the city's gay and lesbian
community.
"The Police Department at first refused to
call it a bias crime, even after the three suspects were apprehended,"
said Ed Sedarbaum, founder of Queens Gays and Lesbians United.
"It took quite a while," he said, ". . .
but it was obvious to the district attorney that it was a hate crime."
The Queens group sprung to life as a result
of the Rivera killing and has monitored the case closely.
Sedarbaum said his group will hold a forum
tonight on anti-gay hate crimes that also will focus on the upcoming retrial
of two men whose convictions were set aside in the Rivera case.
The meeting will begin at 7:30 p.m. at the
Community Methodist Church on 34th Ave. in Jackson Heights.
The pending retrial also is deeply upsetting
to Rivera's family. They are angry that an appellate court ordered a new
trial because of procedural errors by the judge who presided over the
two men's murder trial.
"My hopes were fulfilled when they were convicted,
but now I just don't know," Ted Rivera, Julio's brother, told the Daily
News. "I feel that [the judge] should have been sanctioned, not us.
"This should not have happened. These men
are guilty."
Rivera's alleged killers Eric Brown, 21,
and Esat Bici, 20 became the first defendants in state history to be tried
and convicted for a bias-related murder. Their co-defendant, 21-year-old
Daniel Doyle, testified against them at the trial after pleading guilty
to manslaughter.
Brown and Bici members of the Doc Martens
skinhead gang were found guilty three years ago.
In January, the Appellate Division of Supreme
Court overturned the 1991 murder convictions of Brown and Bici, citing
errors by Justice Ralph Sherman, who tried the case.
Although the court felt there was sufficient
evidence to establish the defendants' guilt, a new trial was ordered.
One of the judicial errors cited by the Appellate
Division involved Sherman's questioning of prospective jurors in his chambers.
The judge apparently asked some members of the jury pool whether they
were gay.
Although the appellate court made no judgment
on whether the question was appropriate, it noted that holding the interviews
in chambers violated the defendants' right to a public trial.
"This trial is truly about hate," Ted Rivera
said solemnly. "I wanted these guys off the streets I really believed
we saved more people from being hurt."
Bici and Brown are scheduled to return to
Kew Gardens Supreme Court on Sept. 18. Court watchers estimate the case
could be tried soon after.
LOAD-DATE: September 05, 1995
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