Elliott Morales, convicted of the 2013 murder of Mark Carson, a 32 year old gay black man in the West Village of Manhattan, has been sentenced to 40 years to life in prison.
Morales shot Carson at point blank range in the face after spewing homophobic invectives at Mr. Carson and his companion.
From the New York Times:
“I can’t help but perceive or observe the parallel tragedy in Orlando,” the judge, A. Kirke Bartley Jr., said as he imposed the sentence in State Supreme Court in Manhattan. “That parallel is revealed in hatred, self-loathing, fear and death.”
Mr. Morales, 36, was convicted after a two-week trial during which he represented himself, assuming the dual roles of defendant and defense lawyer. Addressing Mr. Morales, Justice Bartley said that the defendant’s ability to appear in the courtroom “calm, intelligent, well-prepared, well-behaved” could not deter from the fact that he was “something worthy of a character in a Stephen King novel, in short, a monster.”
Morales defended his own case in court. At the time, he argued that the murder should not be considered a hate crime because he had had sexual encounters with transgender women in the past.
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