Jeffrey Conroy, the swastika-tattooed 19-year-old found guilty of manslaughter for killing an Ecuadorian immigrant, is showing remorse for his crimes, and his family says he's actually a stand up guy. According to them he has lots of Hispanic friends, listens to hip hop and is even dating a Bolivian girl.
In an interview with the Times, Conroy says he felt sympathy for Marcelo Lucero's family, especially his brother. He said in the courtroom "I would just look at him and then I would look away. I feel bad for him. I got a brother, too. I couldn’t imagine him dying." He also says that, despite the tattoo he got as a joke, he isn't the person he seems like in the papers. "I'm not a white supremacist or anything like that. I’m not this serious racist kid everyone thinks I am."
Prosecutors believed Conroy had an intent to kill because the blade he used went all the way into Lucero's chest and was stopped only by the handle. However, Conroy said it was not his idea, and that his friends were only going to beat up immigrants in a practice called "beaner hopping," but they had no intent to kill them. He initially signed a five-page confession saying he stabbed Lucero, but testified during the trial that he was just holding the bloody knife for a friend. Conroy faces 8 to 25 years in prison for manslaughter as a hate crime.
