Baker's Dozen Bashing in SF

[+ glutes]

Anyone else upset about what happen in SF over the New Years holiday, a gay bashing that is starting to catch national attention? Jim Hammer is now a lawyer involved for the victims, even Sean Hannity contributing 10,000USD to hunt down the attackers.

The SFPD and the parents need to be held accountable.

 

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/01/14/MANDR.TMP

[Guest zipperzone]

I'm not clear on one point - are the singers a gay men's chorus?

 

I think it's fortunate that one of the victim's father is wealthy and seems to be deterimed to spend whatever is necessary to ensure the matter is fully investigated. If he had been poor, the chances of it being swept under the rug would be almost a certainty.

 

Don't Mess With Tess

[+ glutes]

You are quite right, who is to say the Baker's Dozen is gay, or not gay for that matter. The point is 'fag' and 'homo' were used by the attackers.

[+ honcho]

>If he had been poor, the chances of it being swept under the rug

>would be almost a certainty.

 

The San Francisco Police Department has a better track record than

most other civic police departments for pursuing hate crimes.

 

In the last issue of the SF examiner (I only saw a paper copy

at a friends), police chief Heather Fong stated that that matter

is still actively being investigated.

[Guest zipperzone]

>In the last issue of the SF examiner (I only saw a paper copy

>at a friends), police chief Heather Fong stated that that

>matter

>is still actively being investigated.

 

If that is the case, it's only because of the refusal of the victim's parents to allow this to die. It's pretty clear that Fong originally lied and would have liked the whole thing to disappear. She's only investigating it further because she has no choice.

 

And I'm surprised that Newsome, who in the past has been gay supportive, seems to be in league with her.

 

Could it be that the perps are sons of wealthy SF families who contribute to a particular political party and dey dont wanna rock de boat?

 

If it looks like a duck and it quacks like a duck............

[RM]

There's no indication that the group is gay. It had been in existence since 1947. There's two more articles in today's Chronicle.

 

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/01/17/MNGFLNJS951.DTL

 

 

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/01/17/MNGFLNK19H1.DTL

[catnip]

No, it's not a gay chorus. The Baker's Dozen is one of Yale's elite acapella groups which feeds into the Whiffenproofs. These guys, probably mostly straight, with a gay or two thrown in, were simply attacked, using whatever invective seemed best, for being decent, accomplished students trying to do something good by a bunch of entitled cretins - sons of affluent San Franciscans. As it happened, all the perps were identified by the victims; when they were shown 100+ pics, and they all identified the main perps.... Yes, several of them have wealthy parents, all of whom are up in arms and are making as much noise as they can, and who can blame them? It just shows that the affluent (in this case perps) can get away with practically anything, even murder (though fortunately, that didn't happen here). But in this case, the victims families are just as well-moneyed, so the case has become complicated for the perps, who will pay.

[+ glutes]

Baker's Dozen, 2 charged

 

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/03/06/MNG71OG4NI1.DTL

[Guest zipperzone]

RE: Baker's Dozen, 2 charged

 

Glutes - your "one bombing a day" quote - - - Laura or Barbara?

[+ glutes]

RE: Baker's Dozen, 2 charged

 

It was Laura Bush, think on CNN last week.

[+ Lucky]

There is a whole slew of evidentiary problems in this case. Here is one view:

 

Nature of Yale beating case makes jail time unlikely

Phillip Matier, Andrew Ross

 

Wednesday, March 7, 2007

 

Brutal as the attack may have been, it would be surprising if the two men charged in the New Year's bashing of the Yale singing group at a San Francisco party ever do hard jail time.

 

The conflicting nature of the evidence, questions raised by the initial police report, the lack of positive and consistent identifications, the young age of those involved and the fact that everyone involved had been drinking will all come into play if and when the case ever goes before a jury.

 

"That's not to say a jury is going to give these guys a pass," said Peter Keane, a former public defender, Golden Gate University law school dean and city Police Commission member who is not involved in the case. "But they will likely come back with a conviction on simple assault rather than the more serious felony charge of assault with intent to commit bodily harm."

 

Even a felony conviction would probably result only in community service and probation, attorneys said.

 

Another longtime criminal defense attorney with no horse in this race, Stuart Hanlon, said the case "will never end with people going to prison."

 

As the lawyers note, it's often a big step between what happened and proving who did what beyond a reasonable doubt.

 

One of those charged with felony assault for the New Year's incident, 19-year-old Brian Dwyer, the son of a California Highway Patrol officer, didn't help himself by allegedly confessing to his involvement. In his statement to police, Dwyer allegedly said, "I kicked someone on the ground. I kicked him hard and I meant to hurt him," according to law enforcement officials who have seen the reports.

 

Investigators believe the guy on the ground was Evan Gogel, one of the members of the Baker's Dozen a cappella singing group from Yale University, which was performing at a Richmond District party New Year's Eve.

 

But many a prosecutor has lost cases that were backed by little more than confessions. And when it comes to the Yale singers, things appear to be far from clear-cut.

 

Take the issue of witness identifications. One of the Yale students, Bryan Bibler, supposedly identified Dwyer and three other of Gogel's assailants to police the night of the attack. But the police incident report, which was not written up until a week later, says only that Bibler pointed out the four as having been present outside the party when a group of locals confronted the Yale students. It doesn't say he identified them as participating in the attack.

 

The waters got further muddied when police flew back East three weeks after the altercation to show Bibler a photo lineup that included Dwyer and the three others, and he failed to pick out any of them.

 

In fact, Bibler picked the lineup's "fillers" -- people who weren't even on the scene -- as the attackers.

 

Whitney Leigh, an attorney who has been retained by the Yale students' families, said there were other witnesses who could have identified the assailants, and that Dwyer's statement should have been enough to make assault cases against all four men.

 

Prosecutors, however, say they've got only one solid witness -- and that the only assailant he could identify was 19-year-old Richard Aicardi, the other man charged in the case, who is accused of kicking Gogel and punching Yale singer William Bailey.

 

Sharyar Aziz Jr., the Yale singer whose wired-shut jaw has been featured in newspaper photos and on TV, can't identify any of his attackers, and apparently neither can anyone else.

 

Leigh says Aicardi should have been charged with conspiracy because he was the one who allegedly got on his cell phone and called his friends to the scene, precipitating the brawl that ended with Aziz's jaw being broken. But again, the evidence is muddled -- prosecutors say Aicardi might have made the call because he was legitimately afraid the Yale singers were going to beat him up.

 

According to witnesses, there was a lot of back and forth, pushing and trash talk leading up to the brawl.

 

One law enforcement source told us, "The San Francisco guys were saying, 'Don't mess with us, we're 415' -- and the Yalies were saying, 'Yeah, well, we're 212.'

 

"All of them trying to act like they were from the hood,'' the source said. "Heck, the only hood any of these guys had ever seen was the hood of a Mercedes-Benz."

[+ glutes]

I think some of why I originally posted this has been lost. The Baker's Dozen was attacked because it was assumed they were gay.

Below is a piece from KGO-TV news, take a look at what last interviewee says:

 

Mar. 5 - KGO - The San Francisco District Attorney's Office announced charges today in the beating of a Yale University singing group over New Year's. Their families had been pressing the police and prosecutors for the past nine weeks, and today, they finally did. The ABC7 I-Team first broke this story in January.

 

District Attorney Kamala Harris announced the arrest warrants in the Yale choir assault case. Members of a group called The Baker's Dozen came to San Francisco on a concert tour. They were beaten outside a New Year's Eve party in their honor at a Richmond District home.

 

The injuries ranged from black eyes, to a sprained ankle, a serious concussion, and a jaw broken in two places.

 

Kamala Harris, San Francisco D.A.: "We have charged the two defendants with several felony assault cases."

 

Nineteen-year-old Richard Aicardi is charged with two counts of felony assault and one count of battery. He's a graduate of Sacred Heart High School and now attends Notre Dame de Namur in Belmont. He's the son of prominent San Francisco pediatrician Eileen Aicardi.

 

Hunter Fairman, Witness: "I actually opened the door for Rich Aicardi and let him in the house."

 

Rich Aicardi wore a Santa hat to the New Year's Eve party, and in past I-Team reports, witnesses told us he loudly criticized members of The Baker's Dozen when they sang the National Anthem at midnight.

 

Hunter Fairman: "Rich was behind me and he said that these were a bunch of, that this is the gayest s--t he ever heard and what a bunch of fags."