Luke O'Donovan, 19, charged in the stabbing of several people at a New Year's party, is set to be released today or tomorrow on a $35,000 bond.
The bond was set today in Fulton Magistrate Court. O'Donovan did not appear in the courtroom but some 25 of his family and friends gathered at the courthouse to show support. When they learned of his release from O'Donovan's attorney Greg Schwarz, they cheered in the hallway outside the courtroom.
His friends, who started a website and fundraising campaign, say O'Donovan was a victim of a "queerbashing.”
Three young men who beat a gay man in southwest Atlanta six months ago were sentenced to serve five years in prison with another five years on probation.
Fulton Superior Court T. Jackson Bedford sentenced Christopher Cain, 18; Dorian Moragne, 19; and Darael Williams, 17, as several loved ones of the defendants audibly cried in court. All men were already on probation for other crimes.
The Fulton DA's office had asked for 15 years for all men with Moragne to serve 10 and Cain and Williams to serve eight. The men all pleaded guilty to the brutal beating of Brandon White, 20, on Feb. 4, as he exited a convenience store in the Pittsburgh community.
"You all are the ultimate bullies," Bedford told the young men before handing down the sentence. "You didn't like the way [Brandon White] looked, dressed or conducted himself and that's nothing but being bullies."
State Rep. Simone Bell says she signed onto a letter that was provided by several LGBT activists to Fulton Judge Jackson Bedford during Thursday's sentencing hearing seeking leniency for two of the defendants in the anti-gay assault on Brandon White because she wants the case moved to federal court and pave the way for a state hate crime law to be passed in Georgia.
In a press statement released late Thursday, Rep. Bell said she sees the Feb. 4 attack on Brandon White, 20, an openly gay man, "centered in hate due to his sexual orientation."
Charged in the beating are Dorian Moragne, 19, and Darael Demare Williams, 17. A group of LGBT activists are asking Fulton Superior Court Judge Jackson Bedford sentence them probation rather than a lengthy prison sentence.
Christopher Cain, 18, also charged in the attack, pleaded guilty Thursday to the same charges Moragne and Williams pleaded guilty to on May 29: being part of a gang, two counts of aggravated assault, and robbery by force.
Dorian Moragne, 19, and Dareal Demare Williams, 18, pleaded guilty today in Fulton County Superior Court in the brutal assault Brandon White, a black gay man, on Feb. 4 in the Pittsburgh community. Sentencing hearing will be held in July and the men face up to 15 and 20 years on each count.
During the hearing today before Fulton Superior Court Judge Jackson Bedford, prosecutor J. Gabriel Banks said the assault was instigated by another suspect, Christopher Cain, who alleged that the victim, White, 20, made a sexual advance toward him. Another suspect, Javaris Williams, was also allegedly involved in the attack that was videotaped and uploaded to a hip hop website.