Defendant in hate crime case to be tried Defendant in hate crime case to be tried (July 23, 2004)

Victim's sexuality not an issue, lawyers say

By Jon Wiener

An alleged hate crime that took place in Mountain View is scheduled to go on trial on Aug. 2, and it has a twist. The victim is not a member of a protected group -- his attackers just thought he was.

Prosecutors say 37-year old Gerrod Cohn of Spokane, Wash. assaulted Angel Santuario with the intent of seriously injuring him and did so because he thought Santuario was gay. Cohn is also accused of stealing and destroying Santuario's guitar. He faces a maximum jail sentence of nine years.

On Oct. 6 last year, hoping to see Mexican rockers Mana at their room at the Quality Inn on Fairchild Drive, Santuario set out on foot from his Mountain View home with his guitar in hand. On his way to the hotel, he passed the King of Clubs on Leong Drive, a gay bar where he used to be a janitor.

When a passenger in a passing car stuck his head out of the window and started yelling "faggot" and other slurs, Santuario said he ignored it. But when the car pulled up next to him in the hotel parking lot and three people got out, things quickly got out of hand. According to the police report, Santuario was face-down on the ground absorbing punches and kicks when he heard somebody call him a "faggot" again. He suffered seven broken teeth in the attack and wounds and bruises inflicted with his own guitar, which his attackers used as a weapon.

The case is one of only two alleged hate crimes in Santa Clara County last year, and it throws hate crime legislation into a different light.

The fact that Santuario is not gay, which he told police, court officials and the Voice, is not a factor in the prosecution. Cohn's attorney agreed it doesn't matter.

Assistant district attorney Karyn Sinunu said that crimes of perception, as these are called, are not uncommon as far as hate crimes go.

"The bias is the cause of it. Just because they're wrong, you (still) want to correct that behavior," said Sinunu. "You can't excuse the defendant because they thought someone was Chinese who was really Vietnamese. That would be a ridiculous defense."

Santuario said in an interview on Tuesday that he no longer walks the streets with his guitar, which was smashed in the attack. After missing a month of work detailing cars, he said he now suffers from migraines, has trouble remembering things and estimates he has spent $8,000 on reconstructive dental work alone. But hate crime legislation is not designed to protect him, at least not as a heterosexual.

Santuario said he believes his attackers did intend to commit a crime against the gay community. "It gives a different look to the city," said Santuario.

As for the friends he'd made at the bar when he worked there, Santuario said: "I guess it did affect them. They were mad because they beat me up because they thought I was gay."

James Gibbs, a manager at the King of Clubs, said he doesn't believe the crime targeted the patrons of the bar. And even though he is not convinced Santuario's attackers knew the King of Clubs is a gay bar, the reverberations of the attack were felt by his regular customers.

Gibbs remembered two other occasions in the last two years in which homophobic epithets were shouted from passing cars, but nothing ever became violent until the attack on Santuario.

Prosecutors will have to prove that Cohn did participate in the attack. "The issue is whether he was an active participant or whether he tried to break it up," said his attorney Wesley Schroeder. According to Schroeder, Cohn did not realize that his two companions thought Santuario was gay.

Michael Daugherty and Brian Walter pled no contest earlier this year to the assault and hate crime charges. They were ordered to pay more than $14,000 in restitution to Santuario for his medical costs and lost wages. Daugherty, who is serving a three-year term, sent a letter of apology intended for Santuario via the court in May, but Santuario said he never saw it.

E-mail Jon Wiener at jwiener@mv-voice.com

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