Two Boston brothers accused of urinating on and beating a homeless Mexican man and saying to police officers: “Donald Trump was right: All these illegals need to be deported,” were on Monday sentenced to prison, prosecutors said.
Scott Leader, 38, and Steve Leader, 30, had previously pleaded guilty to indictments charging them with causing bodily injury while committing a civil rights violation, as well as assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, among other charges.
PRISON TERMS
Scott Leader was sentenced to three years in prison and Steve Leader was sentenced to 18 months, the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office said in a statement. The pair are also to be on probation for three years after their prison sentences end.
The brothers were arrested on Aug. 19 last year on suspicion of beating Rodriguez, then 58, as he slept in a subway station.
The men told police they targeted their victim because they believed he was an illegal immigrant.
The victim, Guillermo Rodriguez, said in a statement that he is a permanent resident.
“I came to this country many years ago and worked hard in the farm fields to provide produce to people here. I actually became a permanent resident of this country years ago, although if I had been undocumented, I still would not have deserved to be beaten this way,” Rodriguez said in a prepared statement read by Assistant US District Attorney Nicole Rimar before the sentencing.
The pair punched and kicked Rodriguez, and one of the men repeatedly struck him with a metal pole, before the two walked off laughing, prosecutors said.
‘JUSTIFIED’
Prosecutors said Scott Leader told arresting officers that he believed the attack was justified because the victim was homeless and Hispanic.
The pair also allegedly threatened police officers while in custody.
Republican US presidential frontrunner Trump has been vocal on immigration, proposing to build a wall on the US-Mexico border and promising, if elected, to deport the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants already in the US.
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