PITTSBURGH (AP) - A white man serving a three- to six-year sentence in a Pennsylvania prison for beating a black man at a Pittsburgh rail station during a drunken argument pleaded guilty Thursday to a federal hate crime involving the same assault.
Ryan Kyle, 23, of Brentwood, was sentenced to three years in prison, a sentence that will run concurrently with his state prison term. Kyle also was ordered to serve three years’ probation and to pay $800 to Kevin Lockett for a lost cellphone and some miscellaneous expenses related to the May 30, 2015, beating.
The case was the first prosecution of a federal hate crime in western Pennsylvania.
The proceeding apparently didn’t sit well with Lockett, 55, who mumbled objections during much of it, or with Kyle’s friends and relatives, who seemed upset about some statements Assistant U.S. Attorney Cindy Chung attributed to Kyle.
Kyle’s supporters wouldn’t comment afterward. But his attorney, Almon Burke, said, “The federal government wants to dump it all on Ryan.”
Burke, who is black, said the encounter between his client and Lockett was just a fight between two drunken guys and Kyle was too drunk to remember most of what happened. He contended that some racial slurs the prosecutor attributed to Kyle were likely said by others with him.
Still, Burke and Kyle acknowledged that he used a slur and that Lockett was targeted because of his race.
Both Kyle and Lockett were on the same train when Lockett heard racial slurs as he was trying to get off the train near PNC Park as a large crowd from a Kenny Chesney concert was getting on board. When Lockett later got off at a downtown station, he exchanged words with Kyle and four of Kyle’s friends then they confronted him, Chung said.
At one point, Kyle threw Lockett off the platform and onto the train tracks, she said. When Lockett climbed back up, Kyle knocked him out with a punch then hit him several more times once Lockett was down, the prosecutor said.
Lockett, who wore large dark glasses into the courtroom, suffered facial fractures, a concussion and eye injuries for which he’s still being treated. When Chung told the judge Lockett had undergone five surgeries, an agitated Lockett held up seven fingers and repeatedly said “seven” from his seat in the gallery.
Lockett told U.S. District Judge Cathy Bissoon he didn’t agree with the sentence. But he also struck a conciliatory tone. “I don’t like to keep it black and white,” he said, but added that he hoped the case would “educate” Kyle and the public about racial tensions. He noted that surveillance video showed a white woman rushing to help him while a black woman sitting nearby “didn’t do nothing but pop her gum.”
Kyle’s friends were convicted of lesser charges in state court and sentenced to probation. He faced more severe state charges, and was the only one charged with a federal hate crime, based on surveillance video of the beating.
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This story has been corrected to show the defendant is now 23, not 22.
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