Teen accused of fatally stabbing O’Shae Sibley pleads not guilty to murder as a hate crime
The 17-year-old boy charged with stabbing O’Shae Sibley to death at a gas station in Brooklyn has pleaded not guilty at his arraignment.
Dmitriy Popov was previously indicted by a grand jury on murder in the second degree as a hate crime, among other charges.
Mr Popov’s next court date is set for October, ABC 7 reported, adding that the teen faces a minimum of 20 years in jail and a maximum of 25 years to life.
The outlet reported that Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez underscored the importance of prosecuting this incident as a hate crime.
“Many powerful people across this country have talked about this case and have been concerned that justice prevails,” said Mr Gonzalez. “I’m assuring the community that we are taking this case very seriously, that we’re going to make sure that justice prevails.”
The 17-year-old is accused of killing Sibley, a gay 28-year-old professional dancer, who, reportedly just after 11pm on 29 July, was dancing to a Beyonce song with a friend at a Mobil gas station in Brooklyn. That’s when a separate group of young men allegedly began hurling homophobic insults saying that they didn’t like “gay dancing” in their neighbourhood, according to eyewitnesses.
Sibley suffered “a stab wound to the torso. EMS responded and removed the victim to Maimonides Medical Center, where he was pronounced deceased,” a spokesperson for NYPD said.
Mr Popov’s lawyer Mark Pollard previously told The Independent that his client was a “good Christian boy” who regularly attended church.
“I have no idea where that came from. I just know he’s not Muslim. It’s very strange,” Mr Pollard told The Independent.
The teenage suspect turned himself in to authorities after a week of trying to bring him in, although he was easily identified through video footage.
“This is a city where you are free to express yourself, and that expression should never end with any form of violence,” Mayor Eric Adams said at a press conference last week.
