Three Men
Sentenced in Hate-Related Death of NYC Gay Man

Three men convicted of beating a New York City gay man and then chasing him onto a highway where he was struck by a car and killed were sentenced to prison on Tuesday, prosecutors said.

All three had been part of what prosecutors called a hate-inspired robbery scheme.

On October 8, 2006, they found Michael Sandy in an Internet chat room frequented by gay men, lured him out to Brooklyn's remote Plum Beach with a promise of a date, and then attacked him. When Sandy tried to escape, he was hit by a car on the Belt Parkway.

Anthony Fortunato, 21, who had told jurors they shouldn't convict him of a hate crime because he's gay, was sentenced to seven to 21 years in prison for second-degree manslaughter as a hate crime and attempted petit larceny.

John Fox, 20, was sentenced to seven to 21 years in prison for second-degree manslaughter as a hate crime and attempted robbery as a hate crime.

Ilya Shurov, 21, who pleaded guilty, was sentenced to 17 1/2 years in prison for second-degree manslaughter as a hate crime and attempted robbery as a hate crime.

A fourth man, Gary Timmons, had already pleaded guilty to attempted robbery as a hate crime and testified in the case in exchange for a four-year sentence.

Fortunato claimed in court that the attack was not motivated by hate. But prosecutors argued that under state hate-crimes law, they didn't have to prove that Sandy's attackers hated gay men -- only that they picked their victim because of his sexual orientation. (AP)