NEW YORK
New York Daily News
BY GRAHAM RAYMAN
HELLA WINSTON
REUVEN BLAU
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Tuesday, May 17, 2016
The three Orthodox Jewish men accused of brutally beating a gay black man and leaving him partially blind will likely not serve prison time under an expected plea deal, the Daily News has learned.
The case largely crumbled once at least two witnesses to the December 2013 beatdown changed their version of events after initially implicating the members of the Shomrim volunteer Jewish security patrol, sources said.
Also, surveillance video from the Williamsburg, Brooklyn, scene is limited, people familiar with the case told The News.
Taj Patterson, 25, was walking down Flushing Ave. in Williamsburg in December 2013 when he was set upon by a gang of men shouting anti-gay slurs, prosecutors said. Patterson suffered severe injuries including a broken eye socket and a torn retina that has left him permanently blind in one eye.
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