AP - 21.11.2007 01:05
3 sentenced in gay man's death on New York road

Three men who beat a gay man and chased him onto a road where he was struck by a car and was killed were sentenced to prison, prosecutors said. In what prosecutors called a hate-inspired robbery scheme, the men found Michael Sandy in an Internet chat room frequented by gay men, lured him out to New York's remote Plum Beach with a promise of a date and attacked him. Anthony Fortunato, 21, who had told jurors they should not convict him of a hate crime because he is gay, too, was sentenced to seven to 21 years in prison for second-degree manslaughter as a hate crime and attempted petit larceny. Prosecutors argued that under state hate crimes law, they did not have to prove that Sandy's attackers hated gay men _ only that they picked their victim because of his sexual orientation.