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A man who tried to fend off gay-bashing charges by telling a jury that he is also gay was convicted of manslaughter as a hate crime Thursday in an attack at a remote New York City beach.

Four men who allegedly lured a gay man to a remote pickup spot in New York City to rob him only to see him hit by a car after he tried to escape were arrested Tuesday night.

When Steven Haataja came to remote Chadron, Neb., it was supposed to be a new beginning for the mathematician who had just earned his doctorate. But just seven months later, in March, the college professor was found burned to death in the hills just south of the small school where he taught.

At an informal, unlicensed bar at a house in a remote corner of Soweto, South Africa, men and women sip lukewarm beer, mingle, flirt, and sometimes dance to driving and monotonous Kwaito rhythms. The bar is one of the places where young black gays don't have to hide who they are, where they can talk openly and find companionship and a safe haven in an often hostile township.

A jury convicted a Brooklyn, N.Y., man of manslaughter and on hate-crimes charges Friday for an attack on a gay victim at a remote city beach that led to the victim's death. John Fox was one of two young men on trial for their roles in the assault on Michael Sandy, who was ambushed and chased into traffic during a mugging a year ago. A car struck Sandy as he fled onto Brooklyn's Belt Parkway, fatally injuring him.

Three men convicted of beating a New York City gay man and then chasing him onto a highway where he was struck by a car and killed were sentenced to prison on Tuesday, prosecutors said. All three had been part of what prosecutors called a hate-inspired robbery scheme. On October 8, 2006, they found Michael Sandy in an Internet chat room frequented by gay men, lured him out to Brooklyn's remote Plum Beach with a promise of a date, and then attacked him. When Sandy tried to escape, he was hit by a car on the Belt Parkway.