Revere women deny East Boston attack
Two Revere women facing hate crime charges for allegedly attacking a woman and her teenage daughter on an East Boston street because they were speaking Spanish were released on personal recognizance Monday.
Jenny Leigh Ennamorati and Stephanie Armstrong, both 25, pleaded not guilty at their arraignment to felony charges of violating a person’s constitutional rights with bodily injury, and misdemeanor assault and battery.
The victims — a 46-yearold woman and her 15year-old daughter who have not been publicly identified beyond their last name, Vasquez — say they were attacked unprovoked on Feb. 15 while the were heading home from dinner in the largely Latino neighborhood.
They say the suspects shouted, “This is America,” and told them to “speak English” and “go back to your (obscenity) country” as they punched, kicked and bit them.
The episode was caught on surveillance video.
The suspects’ lawyers defended their clients outside of court.
“She’s 25 years old, no record, a gay woman. She’s out and proud. She’s an advocate for all people like her. This is very upsetting to her,” said William Barabino, an attorney for Armstrong. “No history of her doing anything like this.”
Ennamorati’s attorney said his client has been unfairly stigmatized.
“My client is now walking around with a black cloud over her head that she’s now a bigot, DA’s office is calling her a bigot, racism, all these violent buzz words that come out,” Paul Anthony said. “It’s not fair.”
Suffolk District Attorney Rachael Rollins pledged to hold the woman accountable.
“You don’t go from zero to hate crime and be able to say, ‘We’ve never done it before,’ ” Rollins said.