Breaking: Jury Finds Killer Who Bragged He Shot Gay Man ‘In The Face’ Guilty Of Hate Crime Murder

Mark Carson’s Murderer Guilty of Hate Crime in NYC

The man who shot and killed Mark Carson in a Greenwich Village alley then immediately bragged about it to police has been found guilty by a Manhattan jury. 

Elliott Morales could receive life in prison for what jurors deemed was not only murder, but hate crime murder, which carries a stiffer sentence.

“I shot him because he tried to act tough,” Morales told police when they arrested him shortly after the May, 2013 shooting, and after he bragged he had shot Carson “in the face.”

“Diagnosis dead, Doctor,” Morales had said on camera when another police officer arrived at the scene. 

The New York Times reported his comments were said “maniacally.”

Morales, now 36, defended himself after dismissing four court-appointed attorneys. He also told the jury his action could not be a hate crime because he is bisexual.

Before killing Carson, he had called him and a friend “faggots” and said they looked like “gay wrestlers.”

The Times today reports Morales “claimed he acted in self-defense because he felt he was about to be attacked by Mr. Carson and Mr. Robinson. He said he raised his gun and fired after he saw Mr. Robinson pull what looked like a black pistol from his pocket. ‘I just reacted,’ he said during his closing argument. ‘This was not a deliberate act.'”

“This was bigotry and this was unjustifiable rage,” the lead prosecutor, Shannon Lucey, said in her summation. “The defendant was able to shoot Mark Carson over nothing because Mark Carson was nothing to the defendant. Mark Carson was nothing to the defendant but a subhuman fag.”

In his testimony, Mr. Morales emphasized that he had had sexual relationships with transgender men; he called one of his longtime sexual partners as a witness. “I, Elliot Morales, am not a bigot,” he said. “I don’t hate gays.”

 

This is a breaking news and developing story. Details may change. This story may be updated, and NCRM will likely publish follow-up stories on this news. Stay tuned and refresh for updates. 

 

Image by Memeographs via Twitter