Why would anyone would stand up?

[GMDino]

http://triblive.com/news/allegheny/9983612-74/kyle-lockett-depretis

Quote:Kevin Lockett left the courtroom in disgust after two of the five men who threw him onto the tracks at the Wood Street T Station and beat him last spring walked away with plea deals for six months of probation and no apology.


“I hate what happened, and I hate the system for the way it's happening,” Lockett said after four of the five attackers entered pleas Tuesday before Common Pleas President Judge Jeffrey A. Manning. Only one, Ryan Kyle, faces jail time.

“If five black guys jumped one white guy, nobody would be going home,” Lockett said.

Police and prosecutors said Kyle, Ken Gault, David Depretis and Matthew and Christopher LaPlace, who all are white, were riding the T home after the Kenny Chesney concert May 30 and began harassing Lockett, who is black, for beer from a cooler he was carrying. Lockett tried to exit at the Gateway Station but couldn't because of them. When he got off at Wood Street, the group followed.

Kyle, Gault and Depretis are from Baldwin Borough; Matthew and Christopher LaPlace are from Whitehall.

Assistant District Attorney Julie Capone said Kyle, 22, grabbed Lockett and heaved him off the station platform and onto the tracks. When Lockett got up, Matthew LaPlace took the cooler and the group started walking away, but Kyle came back and beat Lockett until he was unconscious.

Capone said Kyle used racial slurs. She said all five suspects and Lockett were drunk.

Prosecutors dropped a charge of attempted murder against Kyle in exchange for his guilty plea on charges of aggravated assault, ethnic intimidation and conspiracy to commit robbery. Manning revoked his bond and sent him to the Allegheny County Jail pending his sentencing May 16, when he could get three to six years in prison, defense attorney Al Burke said. Kyle was the only one to leave the courtroom in handcuffs.

 
Prosecutors agreed to drop charges including aggravated assault, conspiracy to commit robbery, ethnic intimidation and disorderly conduct against Depretis, 21, and Gault, 22, in exchange for their plea of no contest to one count of conspiracy to recklessly endanger a person. Lockett shook his head and left court for several minutes when Depretis' plea was announced.

Manning disagreed with the pleas but accepted them anyway. He chided both men for not expressing remorse for the attack, which was captured on surveillance video.


“You and Mr. Gault have nothing to say? No ‘I'm sorry it happened,' no ‘This shouldn't have happened,' nothing?” Manning said before accepting Depretis' plea.

Aside from yes-or-no answers to his questions, both remained silent.

Kyle did not comment but will have the chance to do so and present his own witnesses at his sentencing, Burke said. Capone said she will play the video of the attack for Manning at sentencing.

Manning sentenced Depretis and Gault to six months of probation and 100 hours of community service, though he later said he would subpoena them to reappear so he could add restitution to repay Lockett for his medical bills. He will add the condition that their community service be performed in a minority community or in a way that benefits minorities.

Lockett couldn't estimate how much the five would jointly owe but said he is undergoing therapy for his vision.

Manning sentenced Matthew LaPlace, 22, to one year of probation, restitution to Lockett and 100 hours of community service in a minority neighborhood, after prosecutors changed the ethnic intimidation charge to conspiracy to recklessly endanger a person, reduced the aggravated assault to simple assault, reduced robbery to theft, kept a charge of reckless endangerment and dropped the rest.

Matthew LaPlace and his parents apologized to Lockett during the hearing and again in the courthouse hallway.

“I know Matthew's very remorseful. He went into rehab. ... He's not had a drink for five months,” said his attorney, Patrick Thommassey.

Christopher LaPlace did not appear because his attorney was unavailable. He was rescheduled for Thursday.