Sep 10, 2008 11:20 am US/Eastern
Victim To Take Stand In Homeless Beating Trial
FT. LAUDERDALE (CBS4) ―
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FAU surveillance camera videotaped the beatings on Jan. 12th 2006 in Fort Lauderdale.
CBS
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Brian Hooks, 21, charged with first-degree murder and attempted murder
CBS4 News
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45-year old Norris Gaynor died of his injuries after he was beaten with a baseball bat
CBS4 News
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Raymond Perez was beaten in the garden of the Church By The Sea
CBS4 News
One of two surviving homeless men, brutally beaten with baseball bats more than two years ago, is expected to take the stand Wednesday in the case against his accused bat-wielding attackers.
Thomas Daugherty, 19, and Brian Hooks, 21, are charged with first-degree murder and attempted murder for their roles in the Jan. 12, 2006, beatings of three homeless men in Fort Lauderdale, which resulted in one death.
Raymond Perez, 52, was beaten outside the Church-by-the-Sea and he's scheduled to testify today.
Another victim, 60-year old Jacques Pierre testified on Monday. Prosecutors also played a video taken by a surveillance camera which captured Pierre's beating outside Florida Atlantic University in downtown Fort Lauderdale.
"I was trying to take the baseball away from them; they were hitting me in my head," said Pierre. He showed the jury the scars on his forehead and scars left behind by 350 stitches in his left arm. The video of Pierre's beating is a key piece of evidence in the case.
Both Perez and Pierre were hospitalized after the beatings but the third man, 45-year old Norris Gaynor, died of his injuries. On Tuesday, a friend of Gaynor's, Jeff Phoenix, quietly cried when he described to the jury how he tried to get help after he found Gaynor beaten and bleeding on a bench in Esplanade Park.
Prosecutors say Daugherty and Hooks were high on Xanax, vodka and marijuana when they went out to beat up homeless people but their lawyer says they had no desire to kill or cause serious harm.
Daugherty and Hooks could face life in prison if convicted.
A third suspect, William "Billy" Ammons, 21, is expected to testify sometime this week. He accepted a deal from prosecutors to testify against his former friends. He pled guilty in May to third-degree murder and aggravated battery in exchange for a 10 to 20-year sentence.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
Double Homicide In NW Miami-Dade
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