Two South Boston brothers today admitted they attacked a man sleeping near the JFK/UMass T stop with a metal pole and their urine on their way home from a Sox game last August because he was too Mexican for their tastes.
Scott Leader, 38, was sentenced to three years in prison after pleading guilty in Suffolk Superior Court to causing bodily injury while committing a civil rights violation, assault and battery for purposes of intimidation causing bodily injury, two counts each of assault and battery, and two counts each of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, the Suffollk County District Attorney's office reports.
Steven Leader, 30, got two and a half years on the same charges, the DA's office reports, adding it had asked for 4 to 6 for the older brother and 3 to 5 for the younger.
Before sentencing, an assistant DA read a statement from the victim, 58 at the time:
I still feel pain all over my body from this incident. I don’t think my fingers will ever be the same. 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.
According to the DA's office:
The brothers kicked, punched, and urinated on the victim as he slept near the JFK/UMass MBTA station at about 12:30 that morning. One of them took a metal pole and struck the victim with it repeatedly. The two assailants then walked away laughing, witnesses said.
The victim was transported immediately to Boston Medical Center, where he was treated for a broken nose, serious bruising across his torso, and other injuries. With the help of civilian witnesses, State Police identified and apprehended the brothers shortly after the attack.
At the State Police barracks in South Boston, the evidence would have shown, Scott Leader made a series of incriminating statements, including that he and his brother "tuned up" an "illegal immigrant," and that this behavior was acceptable because the victim was homeless and Hispanic.