Youth Draws Prison in ‘Gay Bashing’
A teen-ager whose hatred of homosexuals was an “obsession out of control” was sentenced Tuesday to 35 years in prison for the slaying of a computer analyst during a “gay bashing” spree.
Marcos Perez, 17, who pleaded guilty to murder and first-degree robbery, was sentenced by Superior Court Judge Raymond R. Norko.
Perez and Sean Burke, 18, both of Hartford, were charged in the May, 1988, beating death of Richard Reihl, 33, of Wethersfield, whom they had met outside a bar frequented by homosexuals.
Burke, who was the starting quarterback for South Catholic High School, was sentenced to 40 years in prison last week.
Perez’s lawyer, M. Hatcher Norris, argued for a shorter sentence, citing psychiatric findings that Perez hated homosexuals because he had been sexually assaulted at knifepoint when he was a child.
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