O’Shae Sibley’s father Jake Kelly, left, mother Onetha Sibley, center, and stepmother Jacqueline Kelly gather by the casket during a celebration of life for O’Shae Sibley Aug. 8, 2023, at The Met Philadelphia, in Philadelphia. A 17-year-old has been indicted on a hate-crime murder charge in a stabbing that followed taunts and confrontation over a group of men dancing shirtless to Beyoncé as they gassed up their car, prosecutors said Thursday, Aug 10, 2023, in New York.
AP Photo/Joe Lamberti, File
A 17-year-old pleaded not guilty Friday to hate-motivated murder in a stabbing that followed a clash over men dancing, and his lawyer said the youth “regrets what happened” and may argue he was defending himself.
Charged as an adult, Dmitriy Popov was being held without bail after his arraignment in the killing of O’Shae Sibley, a professional dancer.
Prosecutors say the killing was fueled by bigotry that was trained on Sibley and his friends as they cut loose to a Beyoncé song while pumping gas at a Brooklyn filling station. Sibley, 28, was stabbed after he and a couple of his friends confronted the defendant “to speak out and protect himself and his friends from anti-gay and anti-Black slurs,” Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said Thursday.
“Defending yourself from the anti-gay or anti-Black comments, arguing back, it’s not a cause for someone to take a weapon and do what was done in this case,” the prosecutor said.
But Popov’s lawyer, Mark Pollard, said Friday that it was his understanding that his client didn’t say anything hateful during the confrontation and was backing away when the trio of older, taller men approached.
“I strongly suspect that we will be going self defense and that he had a reasonable grounds to reasonably believe that he had to defend himself in this situation,” Pollard said outside court.
“He regrets what happened, certainly, but it doesn’t mean that he’s guilty of a crime,” the attorney…
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