White man jailed for 15 years over racist attack

A WHITE man accused of beating a black man over the head with a baseball bat was sentenced to 15 years in prison yesterday in a New York hate-crime case that focused on the defendant's use of a racial slur.

The family of the victim, Glenn Moore, 23, pleaded for leniency at the sentencing of Nicholas Minucci, who faced up to 25 years in prison.

Minucci, 20, was convicted last month of second-degree assault as a hate crime for the 2005 attack in Howard Beach - the site of a notorious attack that stoked racial tensions in New York two decades earlier after a black man was fatally struck by a car while trying to escape white attackers after his car had broken down.

Mr Moore suffered a fractured skull. He admitted he and two friends were in the area to steal a car, but said they had not taken anything when they crossed paths with Minucci and his companions.