Post by dgriffin on Apr 29, 2011 16:05:29 GMT -5
Albany mugger, 16, lectures judge at sentencing
By ROBERT GAVIN Staff writer
ALBANY, NY -- A teenage assailant in the life-altering beating and robbery of a man in Albany received the maximum on Friday of 3 1/3 to 10 years behind bars -- but not before the brash offender complained the time will keep him from visiting Europe.
"I don't think that I should be here!" Lukee Forbes, 16, told Judge Stephen Herrick, whom he accused of railroading him. "I was going to be a foreign-exchange (student) ... this is not fair."
Forbes was convicted at trial in March of first-degree assault and robbery of Louis Stelling, 31, of Albany, who suffered nearly fatal brain injuries when he was beaten with a tree limb and robbed as he walked home June 13 from Washington Park.
Forbes, one of three defendants convicted in the attack at Morris and Robin streets, was 15 at the time. As such, he was a juvenile offender. Had the Stelling attack occurred days later, when Forbes turned 16, he would have faced up to 25 years.
Forbes told Herrick he planned to visit two countries in Europe as an exchange student. He demanded answers from the judge during a diatribe, which prompted Forbes' own aunt to say, "Stop talking."
Forbes went on to say he was wrongly accused, should never have been indicted and was being persecuted because he is a young black male. He ripped Herrick for putting him behind bars to suffer in "hell" for a conviction he contends was not supported by evidence. Both co-defendants, Roscoe Irving and Quayvaun Young, pleaded guilty to felonies and testified against Forbes in Albany County Court.
"This case should have been thrown out from Day 1!" Forbes told Herrick. "Why is it that I have to live the life of another statistic?"
Herrick told Forbes the jury did not believe his "concocted" excuse that he was not involved. The judge said the law for juvenile offenders was "woefully insufficient" in this case.
"I've been a judge for 17 years," Herrick said. "I've never seen injuries to a victim such as the injuries to the victim in this case."
Stelling could not breathe on his own until July. Doctors needed to drill into his skull to place a pressure and oxygen sensor to monitor the state of his brain, his father, Peter Stelling, said at the sentencing.
The father said his "horror" began June 14 when he received a call from the victim's twin brother telling him to report to the emergency room of Albany Medical Center Hospital.
"What we found there defies description," Peter Stelling said. "Lou was so badly disfigured that he was barely recognizable. His hair and beard were caked and matted with blood, the swelling in his face and the open wounds from head to toe spoke of an atrocity that a normal person could not imagine as being the work of other human beings."
He said his son finished third in his high school class and was a member of several honor societies. He earned a master's degree in French at the University at Albany.
During one pre-trial hearing, he noted, one of the defendants admitted he thought they had killed Louis Stelling.
"We implore Your Honor to consider the heinous nature of the crime and its permanent impact on the victim and his family when sentencing the defendant," the father said, requesting the maximum time possible. He also asked that Forbes' record not be sealed and his fingerprints and DNA be maintained in the criminal justice system.
Stelling had been returning from the Capital Pride 2010 Parade and Festival when he was attacked. Forbes was convicted of supplying the tree limb to Irving, who used it to hit Stelling.
Stelling managed to make it to Albany Medical Center Hospital, where he was in a medically induced coma and spent nearly two weeks in an intensive care unit.
Stelling's twin nearly became been a second victim. He text-messaged Louis, hoping to find him that night. Forbes, Irving and Young returned the text message, posing as Louis and pretended he had forgotten his credit card pin number. The brother drove to meet the muggers and spoke to them from his car, but was wary, drove away and called police.
Forbes, Young and Irving were arrested after Forbes used the victim's credit card.
Assistant District Attorney Brian Conley prosecuted the case.
Read more: www.timesunion.com/default/article/Albany-mugger-16-lectures-judge-at-sentencing-1358776.php#ixzz1KwrEkKFc
