A day after tattooed hatemonger Christopher Slavin was handcuffed and hauled off to prison for beating two Mexican day laborers, the gloves came off in the case against his alleged accomplice.
Defense attorney Thomas Liotti – whose client Ryan Wagner will be tried separately for his role in the attack – accused prosecutors of misleading him and declared Suffolk County is alight with hatred for his client.
“There’s been so much of a media blanket in this case, I don’t know how [it] can be tried fairly here,” Liotti said. “I would prefer it be moved upstate, somewhere north of Westchester.”
The media coverage reached its zenith after a jury found Slavin guilty Thursday of six counts of attempted murder, aggravated assault and harassment in the Sept. 17, 2000 attack on day laborers Israel Perez and Magdaleno Escamilla.
Slavin and Wagner – who both face 50 years for the attack – allegedly lured the men to a deserted Shirley warehouse, then attacked them with a knife and post-hole digger because they were Mexican.
Liotti said Wagner surrendered to police last October after Suffolk District Attorney James Catterson promised a 4- to 5-year plea deal.
The attorney said prosecutor Eileen Powers then reneged on the deal, and instead offered nothing less than 20 years for a guilty plea.
“In my view, she’s not negotiating in good faith,” Liotti said. “She needs a reality check. She doesn’t have the experience – just throwing out numbers like 20 years.”
Liotti said he will file for a change of venue next week, a move which prosecutors said they will oppose. He also said he will ask that a special prosecutor be appointed to try the case because of the alleged bias.
“He is obviously scared because of what happened to his client’s co-defendant,” said the D.A.’s spokesman, Drew Biondo. “And we have more evidence against his client.”
Among the evidence is Wagner’s own confession. Wagner says, however, that he is not a racist, and participated in the beating only because he has anger-management problems and guzzled booze and LSD the previous night.
Biondo said there was never a promise of a 4- to 5-year deal. And as for Liotti’s slight against Powers’ experience, he said, “If Ms. Powers is so inexperienced, he should stop the rhetoric and go to trial. She’s ready to go, and I’m confident that what happened to his co-defendant will happen to Mr. Wagner.”