Alleged gay bashers arraigned in Boston Municipal Court

While LGBT community outrage continues over the lenient sentence a Boston Municipal Court judge gave to a convicted gay basher last month, the suspects in an alleged anti-gay assault on two men in Boston's South End last week were arraigned at the same court.

According to Suffolk County District Attorney Dan Conley's office, Howard Rice, 50, of Boston, was arraigned June 16 on charges of assault and battery and disorderly conduct before Judge Sally Kelly. Darren Morgan, 46, of Milton, was arraigned on disorderly conduct. The charges stem from an incident that occurred on the night of June 15 near the Myers and Chang restaurant on Washington Street. According to a police report, Rice and Morgan allegedly confronted two men as they walked toward the restaurant and shouted, "Hey faggots, are you guys boyfriends?" The victims told police they attempted to avoid the alleged assailants, who were standing by a bus stop, when Rice put one of the victims into a headlock. The victim was able to break free and attempted to walk into Myers and Chang with his companion. Rice and Morgan allegedly followed the victims into the restaurant, shouting "derogatory remarks" and continuing their attempts to assault the victims. A restaurant staff person helped push the alleged assailants out of the doorway and then called police. One of the victims identified the suspects, who were seated on an MBTA bus bench, for the police. When officers attempted to question the suspects, they allegedly became "extremely belligerent," aggressively shouting at the officers and flailing their arms, drawing a crowd of onlookers. The suspects were arrested and transported to the Area D-4 police station on Harrison Avenue.

According to Conley spokesman Jake Wark, prosecutors recommended that both Rice and Morgan be held on $3000 bail pending their next court appearances. Kelly, however, released Morgan, who returns to court on July 17, on his own recognizance. Rice, who returns to court on July 7, was held on $500 cash bail.

Though police did not charge Rice and Morgan with civil rights violations based on the alleged anti-gay language used during the attack, Wark said that given the circumstances alleged in the police report, Conley's office is treating the alleged assault as a hate crime. Officer Joe Zanoli, a spokesman for the Boston Police Department said the case has been referred to the Community Disorders Unit (CDU), the division that investigates suspected hate crimes.

"We expect civil rights violation charges will be forthcoming for both defendants," said Wark, noting that once those complaints are obtained, Rice and Morgan would be re-arraigned in court.

Wark could not provide a time frame for when such charges would be filed.

"There are interviews ongoing with the victims and potentially witnesses," Wark explained. "One victim, I understand, is out of town at this time so it may be another few days before we are able to speak with that victim."

The alleged assault occurred in the same week that a group of about 15 protesters gathered on a rainy afternoon outside of the Edward Brooke Courthouse on New Chardon Street, where Boston Municipal Court is housed, to protest the sentence handed down by Judge Thomas Horgan in the case of Fabio Brandao, a Framingham man who pleaded guilty to nine criminal charges, including four civil rights violations, stemming from an August 2008 gay bashing on Columbus Avenue, also in Boston's South End. Brandao was the only suspect of four to be apprehended and prosecuted in connection with an assault on a group of three men and one woman as they walked home from a nightclub. Brandao and his friends allegedly beat two of the men in the group so severely that they sustained concussions and have no memory of the assault. Throughout the attack the assailants allegedly called the victims "fucking faggots." Though prosecutors asked for jail time for Brandao, Horgan suspended his two-year jail term and instead ordered him to pay the victims' $4250 in medical expenses, undergo a court clinic evaluation and complete an anger management program. Horgan also ordered Brandao to stay out of the South End.

The lack of jail time outraged LGBT activists, who voiced their displeasure outside of the courthouse with signs ("Brandao deserved jail") and chants ("Jail time for hate crimes!").

"We're here today because there was a horrific injustice perpetrated in this very building a few weeks ago," said Don Gorton, chair of the Gay and Lesbian Anti-Violence Project, who organized the protest with the grassroots organization Join the Impact Massachusetts. "A man who pled guilty to beating a group of four gay and lesbian people and leaving two gay men with brain injuries on the street was allowed to walk free after pleading guilty because Tom Horgan of the Boston Municipal Court failed to apply the hate crimes laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in a brazen act of judicial nullification."

After demonstrating outside of the courthouse for about 15 minutes, the group marched past the courthouse to Old West Church, as their crowd swelled to about 30 people, among them Boston City Council At-Large candidate Andrew Kenneally.

"You have to stand up regardless of the group whoever it is, anyone that is beaten down and is abused, especially if it's hate crime," Kenneally told Bay Windows of his reason for attending the protest. "We have to stand up against such hatred. It's unacceptable."

During a speaking program at the church, Join the Impact Massachusetts Co-chair Kate Leslie read a statement from Jonathan, one of Brandao's victims, who has declined to release his full name publicly out of fear for his personal safety.

"It is not just today, but everyday that we need to stand up and speak our minds," Jonathan said in his statement. "Attacks like the one that my friends and I experienced must never happen again. We must make it known that we will not accept this sentence as justice. This blatant failure of the court is simply intolerable. We must demand change in the attitude of Judge Horgan and his peers. The District Attorney's Office must demand these longer sentences, and the judges must echo our message -- we do not stand idle as hate takes hold of our communities."