By Amanda Massa
Romel Sucuzhanay had been on the witness stand for half an hour, looking as if he wished he were anyplace else. He looked off into the middle distance, and at the interpreter who was translating his testimony from Spanish to English. And then he looked at the defendants’ table where men accused of beating him and killing his brother sat.
His focus sharpened and his eyes opened wide. He pointed to Keith Phoenix and Hakim Scott. He shook his head, and glared. The defendants met his gaze but otherwise did not react.
It was the third day of testimony in the trial of Phoenix and Scott who are charged with second-degree murder as a hate crime in the December 2008 beating death of Jose Sucuzhanay. Romel had been with his brother that night. And now he was being asked to recount the events.
He took the stand shortly before 2:30 p.m. He sat still and quietly, displaying little emotion. He spoke in short sentences.
On the night of December 6th, he testified, Romel, Jose, and Jose’s girlfriend arrived at a party around 11 or 11:30 p.m. Jose drove Romel’s car. At the party, an Ecuadorian singer performed. The alcohol was flowing; Jose had 10 or 11 beers, while Romel had only three. Jose’s girlfriend did not drink.
Around 2:30 in the morning, the three left together. Jose wanted to have another drink, so they all drove to a local bar called Christopher Palace, about 10 minutes walking distance from their home. They got there by car; this time the girlfriend drove. Once they arrived, only Jose and Romel went into the bar. Jose’s girlfriend didn’t come in because she had a disagreement with Jose and left.
Once inside, there was more alcohol. Jose ordered two Long Island iced teas, one for him and one for Romel. Romel drank one, but Jose only drank half of his. After roughly 20 minutes, the brothers decided to leave and go home.
It was cold outside; Jose was shivering so Romel gave him his jacket. They walked arm-in-arm to keep from stumbling. Romel said that Jose was drunk, and he himself felt a bit drunk, too. The brothers were only half a block from home when they were attacked.
When a car drove by them, Romel noticed a man in the car giving him what he described as a hateful look. “To my eyes, like this,” said Romel, using two fingers to point to his own. Jose didn’t notice the stare, but things soon turned violent.
“We were walking toward the house,” said Romel. “While we were passing, the driver look at us like this and we kept on walking. We tried to cross the street and they came out [of the car], yelled ‘fucking Spanish.’ I felt that they hit my brother on the head and they attacked me at the same time.”
When asked for specific details from the attack, Romel could not readily give them.
“I remember parts of it,” said Romel. When asked why he only remembered parts, he said, “because of what happened to my brother.” He drifted off for a moment, staring, reminiscing.
He didn’t remember the color of the car, but remembered that two people got out of it at the same time. A third person in the back seat never emerged. Once outside, one man began attacking Jose and another began attacking Romel.
Romel described his attacker as tall, thin, and black, with a “face that look like he was drunk.” One of the attackers hit Jose over the head with a beer bottle, which he held by the neck. It shattered.
The shards of glass cut Romel’s arm. He took off his jacket and showed the scars to the judge.
Romel said that his attacker was trying to cut his throat. He kicked his legs out to get away. Then he saw his brother’s attacker with a bat.
“I only saw that he was going like this,” said Romel, making downward swinging motion, as if swinging a bat. After that, Romel ran and tried to call the police. His hands were shaking so much that he was unable to dial.
He came back to see his brother: “I walked to see my brother, and my brother….” Romel stopped. Tears begin streaming from his eyes, then after a long pause he said, “I saw there was blood. The tongue was out and he could only try to talk.” At this point, Romel buried his face in his hands, crying. He pulled a tissue from his pocket and began blotting his dampened eyes.
When he resumed, he talked about visiting his brother in the hospital.
“He was hooked up to machines,” said Romel. “He was beaten up. We thought he was going to survive.” But he didn’t.
Romel looked up at the defendants, whom had both been sitting in silence throughout the testimony. Romel pointed at Phoenix and Scott, and suddenly anger filled his eyes. He shook his head, holding the stare for several seconds.
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