BY DUNCAN OSBORNE | Bayna-Lekheim El-Amin was sentenced to nine years in prison and three years post-release supervision for assaulting two men in the Dallas BBQ in Chelsea in 2015.
“The jury rejected your claim of self-defense,” said Judge Arlene Goldberg, who heard the case in Manhattan Supreme Court, on Sept. 15. “That you did not cause serious physical injury to them was only a matter of luck.”
El-Amin faced five low-level felony assault charges in a May 5, 2015, altercation he had with Jonathan Snipes, 33, and Snipes’s then-partner, Ethan York-Adams, 26, in the restaurant, at Eighth Ave. and W. 23rd St.
The prosecution’s case, which included several videos of the incident, was that the fight was divided into three parts and the 42-year-old was not charged with any crime in part one, where he was defending himself from Snipes, who started the fight by attacking El-Amin.
In parts two and three, though, El-Amin continued to fight when Snipes had effectively surrendered, the prosecution said.
El-Amin always faced the greatest jeopardy from his actions in part three, where he can be seen slamming the two men on their heads with a wooden chair as they stand with their backs to him.
“The case boils down to this defendant took it too far,” said Leah Saxtein, the prosecutor on the case, during the sentencing. “He decided to get revenge… . He used a dangerous instrument to strike them in the most vulnerable part of the human body.”
Saxtein asked that El-Amin be sentenced to 12 years in prison and five years post-release supervision. She noted that El-Amin had a lengthy criminal record of 29 felony convictions in multiple states.
Initially, the case sparked outrage over the attack, which was perceived as a hate crime. El-Amin, who is gay, was not charged with a hate crime, however.
As the case progressed and it became apparent that Snipes may have told less than the whole story in his early comments to the press, corners of the L.G.B.T.Q. community began supporting El-Amin.
Some 30 people turned out for the sentencing, with a large number wearing light-blue arm or headbands to show support for El-Amin.
On May 27 of this year, Robb Stone, an artist who now lives in Los Angeles, posted a Facebook photo of Snipes and York-Adams with lengthy text that described them as “a pair of Privileged a–holes.” Within 10 days, the post had 569 shares and 769 likes.
Ultimately, the view became that El-Amin was facing multiple felony charges because Snipes and York-Adams were white and he was black.
“I know that you want to cast this, your supporters as well, as an issue about race,” Judge Goldberg said. “I don’t see it that way… . When you picked up that chair that was a criminal act that cannot be excused.”
Neither Snipes nor York-Adams attended the sentencing or are known to have delivered victim impact statements. The couple ended their relationship and York-Adams now lives in Tennessee. Snipes still lives in New York City.
El-Amin’s attorney, Percy Gayanilo, asked Goldberg for the lightest sentence possible –– three-and-a-half years.
El-Amin also spoke, referring to Snipes and York-Adams as the “drunk white men who felt they were entitled to swing on me.”
He pointed to his more recent community work as evidence that his criminal record does not represent who he is today.
