Five men ordered to stand trial for roles in T station beating
Kevin Lockett lost part of his memory when he was beaten at a Downtown T station earlier this year. At least he thinks he did. He can’t always remember whether memory loss is among the list of effects doctors rattled off to him.
If Tuesday’s preliminary hearing offers any indication, Mr. Lockett’s memory will be crucial as the racially charged case moves forward against the five men accused of playing various roles in his beating and the theft of his cooler containing beer and food.
Mr. Lockett, who is black, has said that he remembered hearing some in a group of the white men using a racial slur before he was
tossed onto the trolley tracks May 30 and lifted himself up, only to be beaten by one of the men.
Defense attorneys Tuesday peppered Mr. Lockett for specifics about the case, such as whether he could attribute the racial slurs to any of their clients individually. Often, the answer was some variation of, “I don't remember.”
Each of the men was charged with ethnic intimidation. To prove that portion of the case at the trial level, prosecutors must show that each of the individual men “did something like used the N word,” said defense attorney Al Burke, who represents Ryan Kyle, 21 of Baldwin, who faces some of the most serious charges.
“In this case, Mr. Lockett doesn’t have that kind of a memory and as far as I know there’s been no evidence presented, at least in today’s hearing, that shows that,” Mr. Burke said.
Mr. Lockett seemed frustrated during the five-hour preliminary hearing, and he argued at various points with both defense attorneys and the district judge, all of whom asked their own set of questions.
Mr. Lockett said he left the North Side T station that night with the intention of getting off at the Gateway Center station but was blocked by a crowd from getting off and rode along to the next stop, Wood Street. While he was on the train, he said, he heard someone in a group using a racial slur, which he tried to ignore. He said it came from the group of suspects, but he could not say from whom specifically.
When he got off at Wood Street, five other men also got off the trolley, using a different exit from the one Mr. Lockett used. Those men were Mr. Kyle, David Depre-tis, 21, Kenneth Gault, 21, and brothers Christopher Laplace, 23, and Matthew Laplace, 21, all of whom are listed as living in Pittsburgh or its surrounding areas.
Mr. Lockett said the group stopped him and one of the men said, “I knew we’d find this [slur],” though he couldn’t say who specifically said that. From there, he said he remembers flashes, such as making eye contact with a woman who looked scared. Most other portions, he said he couldn’t recall. He said he has filled in some gaps in his memory with images he saw on surveillance footage taken in the T station that night.
Assistant District Attorney Julie Capone played that video in court Tuesday morning. It shows that a man, whom officials have identified as Mr. Kyle, grabbed Mr. Lockett around the midsection and pushed him backward, causing him to fall off the platform and onto the tracks. While Mr. Lockett remained on the tracks, three of the suspects stood near the edge of the platform, some facing Mr. Lockett and others facing away from him. The video then shows Mr. Lockett lift himself onto the platform while one of the men, Matthew Laplace, walks away with his cooler.
Then, the man whom officials have identified as Mr. Kyle strikes Mr. Lockett eight to 10 times.
A woman who was nearby called 911, and Port Authority Detective Lee Niebel detained the five suspects. He testified that two of them asked why he cared and used a racial slur to describe Mr. Lockett.
The suspects’ defense attorneys — James Wymard, Robert Del Greco Jr. and Charles LoPresti — argued that portions of their cases should be dismissed based on their individual roles, such as how long they touched Mr. Lockett’s cooler, if at all, or where they were standing and facing when Mr. Lockett was pushed off the tracks.
They had some success. For example, District Judge Oscar Petite dismissed an ethnic intimidation charge against Mr. Depretis after Detective Niebel testified that he did not hear him make any racial slurs.
Ms. Capone termed the men bullies, saying they worked together to surround Mr. Lockett. She argued they should all be held responsible under the accomplice liability theory. because they made no efforts to stop Mr. Kyle or seek help for the victim, and thus were “complicit” in Mr. Kyle’s actions.
“Your honor,” she said, “they all stuck together.”