Christopher Orlando, 18, and Matthew Francis, 22, two Staten Island men who attacked Benjamin Carver, a DC resident on a visit to New York City, in the bathroom of the Stonewall Inn in October 2010, pleaded guilty to felony hate crime yesterday, DNA Info reports:
Francis (pictured) pleaded guilty to third-degree assault as a hate crime and second-degree attempted robbery. He is expected to be sentenced on Sept. 27. Orlando, who prosecutors believed played a lesser role in the attack, pleaded guilty to third-degree assault as a hate crime and second-degree attempted robbery in exchange for a six-month jail sentence to be handed down Jan. 12. He also faced up to eight years in jail. The case was prosecuted by the Manhattan District Attorney's Hate Crimes Unit.
In the October 2010 attack, Carver was asked if he was gay and then pinned down by Orlando while Francis beat him, saying, Get away from me faggot. I don't like gay people."
