Man in hate crime case appears in court

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Man in hate-crime case appears in court

By Crystal Carreon The Sacramento Bee, October 18, 2007

Before a courthouse hearing Wednesday, a young Sacramento man charged in the hate-crime killing of Satender Singh last summer found himself seated squarely among rows of the Fijian man's supporters and community groups who want to see that justice is served.

Aleksandr Shevchenko, 21, examined his fingernails, kept his hands folded in his lap and politely deflected questions in those moments before he was called by Sacramento Superior Court Judge David De Alba and allowed to stand by his attorney, David Henderson.

Shevchenko, who had earlier pleaded not guilty to a felony count of intimidating and interfering with a person's rights – a hate crime – was scheduled to return to court Nov. 13 to hear motions. Wednesday's hearing was to schedule a preliminary hearing for Nov. 27.

Deputy District Attorney Rod Nogaard, who is prosecuting the case, declined to comment. After the hearing, Henderson would not discuss his client, saying only that he expected the court system to handle the matter.

Shevchenko remained free on $25,000 bail as authorities continued their global search for fugitive Andrey Vusik, who allegedly threw the fatal punch that July evening at Lake Natoma.

Authorities had said that the West Sacramento man fled to Russia after Singh's death, but they have not disclosed recent details of their search.

Members of the Satender Justice Coalition said they plan to meet later this month with the FBI, which is leading the effort to find Vusik, for an update on the investigation.

The grass-roots group, formed within days of Singh's death, hasmet with Sheriff John McGinness and representatives of District Attorney Jan Scully to help start a community dialogue about the tensions between Sacramento's gay community and some members of a local Slavic evangelical movement.

In recent years, a group of Slavic evangelicals has been behind public protests that opponents say are violently homophobic and arguably set the cultural backdrop for what happened over the summer.

Coalition members arrived at the hearing, some with "Remember Satender" buttons, to press for a stringent prosecution and a continued vigilance to find Vusik.

"There is a big community concern about this, and we really want to see some measure of justice for Satender," said Andy Noguchi, civil rights co-chair for the Florin Japanese American Citizens League and coalition member. "This is a real tragedy for the community ... there should be some real consequences."

Vusik allegedly punched Singh on July 1 at Lake Natoma after a daylong confrontation between the Fijian man's group and Vusik's relatives and friends, including Shevchenko.

Singh, who fell backward and struck his head, died four days later.

Witnesses who were with Singh that day said the "Russian-speaking" group hurled anti-gay expletives and racial slurs before Singh was hit.

Shevchenko and Vusik family members told The Bee Singh's group had instigated the ordeal by dancing provocatively and swearing at Vusik's wife, with the couple's three small children nearby.

Singh was seen dancing with other men.

Tatyana Vusik said in an earlier interview that her husband had acted in self-defense – not out of hate – and that the death was unintentional.

She said that Vusik had left the country to finalize a transaction with his car exporting business but was expected to come back.

The wife and other relatives have since declined to speak with The Bee.

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