Michigan Judge Sentences Teen, Man in Torture, Beating Death of Homeless Veteran
Jun 12, 2015
Legal Help for Veterans is a law firm helping veterans get the benefits they deserve.
Northville, MI (Law Firm Newswire) June 12, 2015 – Army veteran who once worked at Flint body plant was killed in 2013 near former school.
A judge on May 11 sentenced a teenage boy and a young man to a minimum of 22 years and up to 40 years in prison for the 2013 beating, torturing and killing of a homeless veteran in Flint, Mich. Genesee County Circuit Judge Archie L. Hayman handed down the sentence after the pair pleaded guilty on April 8 to second-degree murder and torture in exchange for dismissal of first-degree murder charges.
During the trial, witnesses testified that Brandon T. Harris and Peris A. Dorsette who were 15 and 20, respectively, saw 57-year-old Gary Nagy sleeping under a trash container near the former McKinley School on July 30, 2013, when they began to taunt him. Harris and Dorsette then proceeded to torture and beat Nagy to death. Nagy, who served in the Army and worked at the Fisher Body plant until its closure in 1987, was later found dead on the ground, covered with the lid of a Dumpster.
Hayman sentenced Harris to a minimum of 22 years on the second-degree murder and torture charges, and Dorsette to a minimum of 22 years on second-degree murder and unarmed robbery charges. By contrast, first-degree murder charges carry a mandatory penalty of life in prison without the possibility of parole, except in cases when the killer is younger than 18 at the time of the crime.
“No one deserves the kind of horrible mistreatment and brutal death that Gary Nagy suffered,” said James G. Fausone, a prominent attorney in Northville, Mich., whose firm specializes in legal services for veterans. “As an Army veteran who was down on his luck, he was subjected to a particularly cruel and senseless demise.”
Homelessness is a serious problem among veterans, particularly among older veterans. Specifically, 12 percent of the homeless adult population in the United States are veterans and 50 percent of homeless veterans are age 51 or older, according to the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans.
“In addition to the typical factors involved in homelessness, such as a shortage of affordable housing, sufficient income and access to healthcare, some veterans are also dealing with the lingering effects of serious problems such as post-traumatic stress disorder and substance abuse as well as difficulty in transferring their skills to the civilian workforce,” Fausone said. “Veterans need a coordinated and reliable support system that provides benefits to help them overcome these significant challenges.”
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