By Connor Adams Sheets
One of two admitted hate crime offenders in the case of the vicious beating and robbery of an openly gay man last year in College Point was sentenced Monday to eight years in prison and five years of post-release supervision.
Daniel Aleman, 27, of 18-04 College Point Blvd., was sentenced by Queens Supreme Court Justice Barry Kron. He pleaded guilty to first-degree robbery as a hate crime in the Oct. 8, 2009, robbery and attack on Jack Price, 50, after he left a College Point deli in the early morning hours of Nov. 23, according to Queens District Attorney Richard Brown.
In exchange for the plea, Queens Supreme Court Justice Barry Kron promised Aleman the sentence he received Monday.
“Today’s sentence provides a measure of justice to the victim in this case — an openly gay man who was brutally attacked during a robbery which was motivated in part because of his sexual orientation as evidenced by the anti-gay slurs shouted by the defendant,” Brown said. “Hate crimes such as this will not be tolerated here in Queens County.”
Aleman’s co-defendant, Daniel Rodriguez, 22, of 502 115th St. in College Point, pleaded guilty Dec. 2 to one count of first-degree robbery as a hate crime for his part in the attack, according to the DA.
In exchange for the plea, Kron promised Rodriguez a sentence of between eight and 12 years in prison and a period of post-release supervision. Rodriguez is expected to be sentenced Jan. 21.
On Oct. 8, 2009, at about 4:30 a.m., Rodriguez and Aleman shouted anti-gay slurs at Price after he left a deli in College Point, according to the DA. The men began to punch, stomp and kick him, then stole his personal property — including a wallet and cash, the DA said.
Price was taken to a nearby hospital with a broken jaw, several broken ribs, two collapsed lungs and a lacerated spleen. He remained there for about three weeks.
The brutal College Point attack contributed to a continuing furor over hate crimes in New York City bolstered by other vicious incidents in the Bronx and Staten Island that led to Gov. David Paterson’s signing of a bill in July allowing judges to order that any criminal convicted of committing a hate crime undergo training or counseling.
Reach reporter Connor Adams Sheets by e-mail at csheets@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4538.
