A 25-year-old New York State man was sentenced Tuesday to 5-1/2 years behind bars after pleading guilty to attacking a gay man in March.
Judge Richard Keenan added a year and a half to the sentence that Jesse Parsons was originally expected to receive after he made a plea agreement in September, according to the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. He pleaded guilty to second-degree assault, which, as a hate crime, would have landed him up to 15 years in prison.
However, the four-year sentence was voided when Parsons said in open court in November that Lance Neve deserved the attack. Keenan threw out the plea deal, saying that Parsons would go to trial for the original charge of second-degree assault committed as a hate crime. Parsons then opted to stand by his plea but take a longer sentence. He was also ordered to pay $24,000 in medical expenses for 26-year-old Neve. Both men are Spencerport residents.
Neve told police that he and his partner were at Snuggery's Bar in Spencerport March 8 when Parsons taunted them with antigay remarks before he attacked Neve, who suffered bleeding on his brain as well as fractures to his skull, nose, left eye socket, and jaw. (Michelle Garcia, Advocate.com)
