Accused Hate Crime Murderer Claims Innocence by Declaring Homosexuality

Published: September 18, 2007, 10:49 am

Tags: crime

One of the defendants accused of murdering Michael Sandy as part of a hate crime a year ago is now claiming that he is innocent because he himself is a gay man. Michael Fortunato is on trial for the murder of Michael Sandy after he and three friends arranged to meet him in a secluded spot in Sheepshead Bay for a gay tryst. Instead, they ambushed the 29-year-old Williamsburg man who, fleeing his attackers, ran onto the Belt Parkway and was struck by a car and died five days later. The youngest of the four men involved in the attack, Michael Timmins, is 17 years old and pleaded guilty in exchange for his testimony against the other three men, Fortunato, Ilya Shurov and John Fox. Prosecutors maintain that Fortunato is inextricably linked to the crime, because he previously bragged to Timmins, Shurov, and Fox about setting up bogus rendezvous with gay men online, only to rob them when meeting them in person. Fortunato is also believed to be the person who conducted the online

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