According to an article by Newsday Marcelo Lucero’s mother, Rosario, was escorted by a community outreach officer to a Riverhead court room in order to view two of seven teens charged with murdering her son.
At a news conference outside court, Rosario Lucero made an emotional plea for justice, saying the attackers hadn’t just killed her son but had also taken away the family’s source of financial and emotional support.
“As a mother, I feel this pain of loss,” she said in Spanish, her face nearly hidden by 16 microphones. “The parents of these children must be feeling a sense of loss, too, seeing their children in these circumstances. We are all human beings, and it is not right to take anyone’s life.”
As most of you may know Marcelo Lucero was beaten and stabbed to death by 7 teenagers on his way home from work.
The article also mentions that County Executive of Suffolk County Steve Levy, after arguably mishandling the initail situation has made sure to reach out the the Lucero family.
I know this is somewhat “old news” but I haven’t commented on this situation and felt it imperative that I do. I want to first say that this is not an immigration issue. This is a human rights issue. Obviously if I sneaked into Canada via the Buffalo border I would not expect to be beaten to death by 7 Ontarian with hockey sticks. Whether or not Lucero was in this country illegally or not is irrelevant.
However the one gripe I do have about this case is the implementation of the “hate crime” statute. I don’t believe another individuals race should play any factor in a court of law. If justice were truly blind the only details of this case that would be relevant would be the brutal way in which Lucero was killed which I am sure would be enough to lock these confused, albeit young, perpetrators up for a long time. I mean lets think about this “hate crime” statute. Lets hypothesize that there is a serial killer about that only kills women victims would he then in turn be slapped with a gender crime. Or what about someone who kills someone while they are mowing there lawn, would this be a “gardener crime”.
I guess I have just never gotten this “hate crime” business. If anyone whats to justify it please feel free to comment.