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Assault charges against four of the five men accused of beating two Howard Beach teenagers on Halloween night in a racially motivated attack were dismissed last week.
Insufficient evidence, including witnesses’ failure to identify the suspects in a lineup and negative DNA test results, brought the high-profile case to its close.
The cases against George Morales, 25, Terrance Scott, 18 and Talique Jackson, 18, were adjourned March 28 in contemplation of dismissal. If the three stay out of trouble for six months, their cases will be dismissed, according to the Queens District Attorney’s Office.
The district attorney also dropped assault charges against 18-year-old Patrick Pugh, who pleaded guilty to fourth-degree criminal mischief and agreed to make restitution for kicking out an $88 police car window upon arrest. One suspect, Victor Tossas, 16, pleaded guilty to third-degree assault.
Both Pugh and Tossas will receive youthful offender status — which means they will not have a criminal record — and be sentenced to three years’ probation on May 6.
This outcome came close to what Pugh’s lawyer, Edward Muccini, was hoping to see. “The sentence was a little harsh,” he said. “But it was a good outcome in the sense that he received youthful offender adjudication.”
Pugh could not post his $10,000 bail and had served three months in jail for the assault charges of which he was cleared after his DNA sample failed to connect him to the attack. Muccini said it was excessive for the district attorney to give him an additional three years’ probation, considering he has no prior record.
Calls to Tossas’ attorney, Damien Brown, were not returned as of press time.
The suspects, all black or Hispanic Brooklyn residents, faced charges of second-degree assault, second-degree menacing and fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon after allegedly chasing a group of white teenagers into a McDonald’s on Cross Bay Boulevard.
There they purportedly used a broomstick to beat Dawn Carmatta’s son, who suffered bruising to the neck, and a different blunt object to strike the other teen, who needed seven staples to close his wound.
Witnesses claimed to have heard the suspects shouting “whiteboy” and “white motherf-----” during the pursuit and attack. Hate crime investigators reviewed evidence to determine if hate motivated the subjects.
Only one witness was able to identify one of the suspects, Tossas, from a lineup. Prosecutors said they got several “mis-hits,” or instances in which witnesses identified individuals not charged in the incident.
The court ordered the defendants to provide DNA samples — by getting the inside of their cheeks swabbed — after evidence was found on a weapon used in the melee. The samples did not match.
“I assume that the Howard Beach community isn’t too happy that nobody is going to be prosecuted for the assault,” Muccini said. “So it’s probably a decent compromise” from the district attorney’s point of view. And from his own, Muccini said, “in the sense that my client doesn’t have a criminal record... so he’s getting a second chance.”
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