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Detroit Resident Sentenced To 18 Months In Prison For 2011 Anti-Gay Hate Crime

DETROIT, MI -- A man who assaulted another man at a Detroit area gas station because he believed his victim was gay was sentenced to 18 months in a Federal prison. 26-year-old Everett Avery, of Detroit, was sentenced Thursday in U.S. District Court in Detroit after pleading guilty to committing a hate crime.

According to the prosecutor, Assistant U.S. Attorney Pamela Thompson; 23-year-old Justin Alesna was in line to buy cigarettes at a BP gas station in March 2011 when the defendant [Avery] became belligerent and told him he was standing too close and then directed anti-gay slurs toward him. When Alesna told him that he was in fact gay, Avery punched him [Alesna] in the face without warning. Alesna also testified the clerk at the gas station not only refused to call police, but he encouraged the attacker to “Kill it, bro.”

Alesna, who suffered a fractured eye socket during the assault, gained national attention after posting a video to YouTube that showed his facial injuries suffered from the attack.

“Hate-fueled incidents like this one have no place in a civilized society,” Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division, said in a statement. 

“The Justice Department is committed to using all the tools in our law enforcement arsenal, including the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, to prosecute acts motivated by hate.”