4 men found guilty of hate crime for attacking Miami gay couple avoid jail, as victim says they deserve a ‘chance’ – New York Daily News

Four men who were caught on video attacking a gay couple in Miami Beach four years ago were found guilty of a hate crime, but avoided jail time.

Police say that Juan Carlos Lopez, Luis Alonso, Adonis Diaz and Pablo Reinaldo Romo-Figueroa started brutally attacking Dmitry Logonov and his boyfriend Rene Chalarca outside a public restroom in South Beach on April 8, 2018, after the Miami Beach LGBTQ Pride Parade.

Both victims, who said they were holding hands at the time, had to be hospitalized after the vicious beating.

Earlier this year, the four men — who were 20 and 21 at the time of the attack — failed to convince a judge that they were fighting to defend themselves.

On Monday, Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Ariana Fajardo Orshan agreed to let them take a plea deal, which requires them to do 200 hours of community service and take anger management and substance abuse classes. The quartet also apologized to the two victims.

“My actions that day don’t define who I am or how I was raised,” Romo-Figueroa told the court, according to the Miami Herald. “I’m thankful for the opportunity to learn from my mistakes,” added Diaz.

The victims also attended the sentencing but left without speaking to the media. But in a statement read in court, Logonov said that he was ready to move on from the traumatic incident, and wanted to give his attackers the same opportunity.

“Today, I’m taking a chance to rebuild my life,” he said. “I believe these gentlemen should have that chance, too.”

The judge apologized “for the way some of our citizens behaved” and said that it was “incredible” that the two men wanted to give their attackers a chance at redemption. “I applaud you,” she said.

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