Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez today announced that a man has been convicted of charges of strangulation and assault as hate crimes and other offenses for the unprovoked attack against a Jewish man, whom he cursed and strangled as the victim was walking home from a synagogue.

District Attorney Gonzalez said, “Today’s verdict speaks to Brooklyn’s resolve to combatting and rooting out hate from our communities. The defendant has been brought to justice for this senseless, disturbing and hateful crime against a man simply walking home from his synagogue. Brooklyn’s strength is in its diversity and I remain committed to vigorously prosecuting bias-motivated violence.”

The District Attorney identified the defendant as James Vincent, 40. He was convicted yesterday of attempted first-degree strangulation as a hate crime, second-degree strangulation as a hate crime, attempted second-degree assault as a hate crime, third-degree assault as a hate crime, and fourth-degree criminal mischief following a jury trial before Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Donald Leo. The defendant faces up to 15 years in prison when he is sentenced on December 13, 2021.

The District Attorney said that, according to the evidence, on April 21, 2018, at approximately 1 p.m., the victim, a 52-year-old Jewish man, was walking home from his synagogue after Sabbath prayers. He walked past the defendant in the vicinity of Rutland Road and East 46th Street in East Flatbush, when the defendant allegedly yelled, “You #$%& Jew, you Jews took my house and mortgage.” The victim continued walking.

The defendant then ran up to the victim from behind, placed his hands on his neck and applied pressure, according to the evidence. He then punched the victim in the head and body, put his arms around the victim’s head and applied pressure. Two bystanders intervened and the defendant continued to yell epithets regarding the victim’s religion as the victim picked up his yarmulke and kippah. The defendant then fled.

The victim suffered various injuries to the head and body.

Several surveillance videos from the area helped to identify the defendant and the investigation revealed that he purchased ice cream in a nearby store using a card bearing his name. He was arrested on April 27, 2018.

ANIMAL: 40-year-old James Vincet arrested for beating a 52-year-old Orthodox Jewish man last Shabbos in Crown Heights Vincet, of East 160th Street in the Bronx, has been charged with assault, strangulation and unlawful possession of marijuana. 📸 @nydailynews

A post shared by TheYeshivaWorld.com (@theyeshivaworld) on Apr 28, 2018 at 6:50pm PDT

WATCH: The victim of a vicious assault in Crown Heights, identified as 52-year-old Menachem Moskowitz, describes his thoughts as he said ‘Shema Yisrael’ after hearing his attacker say “you don’t need help. I’m going to kill you right here.” . . “There are a lot of people unfortunately that hate Jews and want to kill the Jews,” says his wife, Channah Moskowitz. Via @abc7ny

A post shared by TheYeshivaWorld.com (@theyeshivaworld) on Apr 23, 2018 at 1:41am PDT

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