Nov 14, 2008 7:32 pm US/Eastern
7 LI Teens Indicted In Immigrant's Fatal Stabbing
High Passion, Emotion Converge At Central Islip Courthouse
CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. (CBS) ―
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Seven high school students from Patchogue and Medford are in serious trouble, accused of participating in a racial bias attack that left aq 37-year-old Ecuadorian immigrant dead.
CBS
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Marcello Lucero, 37, was stabbed to death in what police believe to be a "brutal murder motivated by racial bias."
CBS
A grand jury indicted Friday the seven teens accused in the fatal stabbing of an Ecuadorean immigrant on Long Island. The charges, however, won't be known until Tuesday when they face a judge.
The killing has prompted widespread outrage and forced the chief executive of Suffolk County to apologize for calling it a "one-day story."
Marcelo Lucero, a 37-year old immigrant who came to the United States 16 years ago, was fatally stabbed shortly before midnight Nov. 8 during a confrontation with seven teenagers who police said were on a hunt "to beat up some Mexicans."
All seven teens have pleaded not guilty to a preliminary charge of gang assault. Jeffrey Conroy, the 17-year-old high school senior suspected of inflicting the fatal blow, has also been charged with manslaughter as a hate crime.
CBS 2 was at the courthouse on Friday, where many of the members of the audience were there to support the accused teens.
Prosecutors say the Patchogue-Medford High School students were motivated by hate when they attacked and killed the Hispanic man.
The charges, including first-degree manslaughter as a hate crime against senior and star athlete Conroy, have brought issues of race and immigration to the forefront of the community.
A spokesman for Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy, who called the attackers "white supremacists," said that Conroy has a swastika tattoo on his leg.
Patchogue-Medford school bosses distanced themselves from the heinous hate crime Friday.
"Racial strife doesn't exist in our high school to any large degree," said Superintendent Michael Mostow.
The school board spoke of their diversity programs and of efforts to build bridges, and said no one could have seen this coming.
"These are not kids with violent pasts. They are kids who have done stuff, but they are not, nothing like this would have appeared in their record that we would have concerned ourselves with," said Mostow.
The killing of Lucero has sent shockwaves far beyond Suffolk County, where animosity over the influx of thousands of immigrants from Mexico, as well as Central and South America, has been simmering for nearly a decade.
Groups including the National Council of La Raza, Hispanics Across America, Latino Justice and the American Jewish Committee's Long Island Chapter have each issued statements expressing disgust.
Ecuador's ambassador to the United States on Friday issued a statement lamenting the killing just days after the election of Barack Obama as the country's first black president.
"It is tragic that a crime of this nature, a xenophobic lynching, happened just as the United States celebrates a historic step forward in which racial barriers have been overcome," said Ambassador Luis Gallegos.
On Thursday, Jorge Lopez, Ecuador's consul general in New York, met privately with Spota. Although both parties agreed to not comment on specifics of the conversation, Lopez had earlier expressed hope that murder charges would be filed.
A spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office said the case is being monitored for possible civil rights violations and Gov. David Paterson directed state officials to lend any support possible to assist with the investigation.
Levy, who as county executive has overseen tough enforcement of immigration laws, apologized for comments earlier this week suggesting Lucero's death was blown out of proportion by the local media because of his outspoken views on illegal immigration.
After saying it would be "a one-day story" if it had occurred elsewhere, Levy apologized in a letter published Friday in Newsday.
"It was absolutely the wrong time for me to suggest that coverage of events in Suffolk is treated differently by the media," Levy wrote. "The horrible incident is indeed more than a one-day story. It was a reminder of how far we as a society still have to go."
A wildly popular Democrat who was re-elected last year with 96 percent of the vote, Levy signed a law requiring county contractors to certify that their employees are in the country legally and supported crackdowns on overcrowded housing.
A co-founder of a national group called Mayors and Executives for Immigration Reform, he has appeared with CNN talk-show host Lou Dobbs, another fierce opponent of illegal immigration.
The Rev. Alan Ramirez, who earlier in the week suggested Levy had "blood on his hands" because of past comments and policies, said the apology was "a good first step" toward reconciliation.
Ramirez said he was expecting as many as 500 people to attend a candlelight vigil Friday evening near the spot where Lucero was killed.
A funeral service was scheduled for Saturday night at the Congregational Church of Patchogue, after which Lucero's body was expected to be flown to his native Ecuador for burial.
A friend of the teens, who all attend Patchogue-Medford High School, arrived at the courthouse early Friday to offer a different perspective.
"They are the sweetest kids you will ever meet, they really are," said Brittany Callica. "This is so unfair for them. It's not a hate crime, they're not racist. They hang out with Spanish people, they hang out with black people. They're such good kids, they had such a good future and now look."
A candlelight vigil is scheduled for 7 p.m. Friday night at the scene of the crime in Patchogue.
(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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