Nicholas "Fat
Nick" Minucci was sentenced to 15 years in prison yesterday (June 17). Minnuci
was sentenced for fracturing the skull of another man, while using the word n***ER
in June 2005.
Queens Supreme Court Justice Richard Buchter chastised Minnuci, who fractured
a black man’s skull with a bat, while uttering the racial epitaph. Minnuci
was convicted last month for robbery and assault as a hate crime, for chasing
and beating Glen Moore, who admitted he and two associates were in the Howard
Beach neighborhood to steal cars.During
Minucci’s trial, he claimed that he had not used the word in a racial sense, but
was using the word as used in some Hip-Hop vernacular as a greeting.In
June, the defense called Harvard Law Professor Randall Kennedy, who is African-American.
Kennedy authored the book "N—er – The Strange Career of a Troublesome Word"
in 2002. He
confirmed both forms of usage of the word in popular vernacular as he traced the
history of the word for jurors."This
defendant lacks judgment, is brutal and vindictive" said Supreme Court Justice
Buchter, as he sentenced Minnuci, who denied he was racist."Many
black people think I’m racist now because of the way the district attorney made
me," said Minucci. "They made me to be a monster, which is nothing of
what I am. This had nothing to do because Moore was black. This had to do with
me going to defend a friend."Moore
labeled Minucci a "wretched person" for striking his head with with
a bat. "What ticked me off is that every time I read the paper or saw you
on the news, you seemed arrogant and unremorseful," Moore said.According
to the New York Daily News, Minnuci was already on probation for shooting paint
balls at two Sikhs outside a temple, as they were on their way to pray for 9/11
victims. He
was also given probation for his role in the stabbing death of a 15-year-old boy
in 2002. The boy later died in an unrelated subway incident under mysterious circumstances
before the case went to trial.
