Defendant’s Mother-in-law Will Not Be Called in Hate-Crime Trial

The attorney for defendant Keith Phoenix withdrew his initial request to call Phoenix’s mother-in-law as a witness in the ongoing hate-crime trial. Attorney Philip J. Smallman says Phoenix’s mother-in-law would have testified that she is a lesbian. Her testimony would have been key in the hate-crime trial to show that Phoenix’s family “never observed him to have any bias, animus, hatred or acted negatively toward them because of race or sexuality,” Smallman initially said.

After consulting with Phoenix during the lunch break, Smallman withdrew his request. Phoenix and his friend Hakim Scott are on trial for the second-degree murder of an Ecuadorian immigrant. Read more here.

Stay tuned as Jeannette Neumann reports from the Brooklyn Supreme Court.