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National News
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Issue: |
November 2008 |
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Author: |
Homeless News Wire
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Brian Hooks was the second youth seen on videotape setting upon a defenseless homeless man with a baseball bat, running in, landing one blow and fleeing.
For his lesser degree of involvement in that attack and two others on Jan. 12, 2006, Hooks was sentenced to 30 years in prison Friday.
Hooks' sentencing came one day after Circuit Judge Cynthia Imperato sent his co -defendant, Thomas Daugherty, 19, to prison for life.
"The court still can't get over the senseless nature of these crimes," Imperato said of the attacks that left Norris Gaynor dead and two other homeless men critically injured. "It's just a horrible, horrible night and a horrible choice you made."Upon hearing 30 years, Hooks, 21, gave a slight, nearly imperceptible nod.
Jacques Pierre, 60, the man on video, survived. Gaynor, 45, died with a cracked skull. Raymond Perez, 52, the third victim, also survived.
Last month, Broward County jurors convicted both Plantation men of second-degree murder and attempted murder.
Imperato said she based her decision on trial evidence and testimony that showed Hooks' strike Pierre once; take a running swing at Gaynor with a garden rake after Daugherty dealt the death blow; and was present, but not actively involved, in Perez's beating.
Hooks, in a dark suit, cuffed and shackled, hobbled to the witness stand where he unfolded a piece of notebook paper.
He quietly apologized to the Gaynor family and spoke of shame, remorse and his stoic demeanor.
"I don't feel sorry for myself but for all those who have suffered because of my actions," he said. "I always felt like I deserved punishment, and I know that. I never acted out of malice or hatred. I just didn't think. I'm equally remorseful and regretful for that."
Hooks spent much of the hearing with his head lowered nearly to the table in front of him as his mother, father, sister, grandmother and hockey coaches implored the judge for mercy.
They portrayed a family -oriented, wholesome life as starkly contrasting to Daugherty's dysfunctional, neglectful upbringing as the prison sentences the two men would receive.
Hooks was in -line hockey team captain, avid boater and fisherman, high school graduate with a gift for math, son to parents solidly wed for 23 years and grandson who wrote poetry with his grandmother.
Daugherty was abandoned by his mother at 2, a pawn in his parent's ugly divorce, shuffled from home to home, a dropout with an eighth -grade education turned on to crystal methamphetamine by his mother at 16.
Hooks' mother and father, Brenda and Brent, described an affectionate, soft -hearted, affable, yet immature son.
"Brian was a young 18," Brenda Hooks said. "Obviously, his decision -making that night underscores his lack of maturity and reflection."
Later at the elevators, Brent Hooks offered his hand to Norris Gaynor's mother, Georgia.
"Hey, I'm sorry," he said, shaking her hand. "There's nothing that I can do. I'm just sorry."
-Tonya Alanez, Sun-Sentinel
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