Miami Beach Pride Gay Attackers Plead Guilty Today In Surprise Hearing

In April 2018 there was a violent attack on two Gay men who were attending Miami Beach Pride 10th anniversary celebration. The four men were Juan Carlos Lopez, 26; Luis Manuel Alonso-Piovet 25, Adonis David Diaz 26 and Pablo Reinaldo Romo-Figueroa, 26. The case has been extremely controversial on the lack of speed to have its day in court. There have been countless starts and stops while local, national and international news report on the process being carried by media including Queer News Tonight. Today that all came to an end in a surprise hearing. They all plead guilty as part of a plea deal just as jury selection was to begin. In 2018 Ernesto Rodriguez of the Miami Beach Police Department said police were investigating the incident as a possible hate crime though a final decision on whether to pursue enhanced penalties will be made by the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office. The victims Rene Chalarca and Dimitri Lugonov said the attackers yelled Maricon, an offensive spanish word for homosexuals before hitting them several times. A bystander who saw the attack and tried to intervene was pushed to the ground and suffered a cut to the back of his head. They were attacked by the men after they shared a hug while waiting to use a restroom at Lummus Park in the 500 block of Ocean Drive. The defendants claimed a ‘stand your ground’ self defense that was thrown out of court in the spring. This afternoon, All four defendants plead guilty to assault with prejudice on religious or institutional grounds, a misdemeanor. They could have faced 15 years in prison. Instead, the court is withholding adjudication and sentencing them to five years probation, 200 hours of community service, anger management, mental and substance abuse evaluations and any recommended treatments. The court order requires they must stay away from the victims. Diaz was also sentenced to 37 days in jail, which he has already served. A statement was read from the victims to the defendants that said “It’s been almost five years. Almost half of my time living in the United States. I’m dealing with the fear of being myself, the reason I left my home country.” Queer News Tonight sourced much of our story on reporting from John Hayden. #breakingnews