New York Man Pleads Guilty to Hate Crime Stabbing of Jamaican-American Woman in Newburgh
Scott Schunzel, 33, admitted to stabbing a 59-year-old Jamaican-American woman in Newburgh, NY, in a racially motivated attack in June 2024.
New York Man Admits to Race-Motivated Stabbing of Jamaican-American Woman
Scott Schunzel, 33, of New York, pleaded guilty Thursday to a federal hate crime after stabbing a 59-year-old Jamaican-American woman in Newburgh in June 2024, caribbeannationalweekly.com reports.
Schunzel entered the plea before U.S. District Judge Vincent Briccetti in connection with the June 18, 2024, attack, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York. He faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison; sentencing will be set by the judge.
Court filings state that Schunzel stabbed the woman with a knife at approximately 10:30 a.m. while she stood beside a parked fruit truck. The victim suffered a deep wound to her left hamstring and was transported by ambulance to a nearby hospital, where she received stitches.
A subsequent search of Schunzel's residence uncovered writings and other materials expressing hostility toward Black people, including statements about killing and stabbing Black women, prosecutors said. Schunzel fled to Florida on June 19 — the day after the attack — and was later arrested by FBI agents from the agency's Miami field office.
U.S. Attorney Jamie McDonald said the guilty plea confirmed the attack was racially motivated. "As he has now admitted, Scott Schunzel deliberately stabbed a Jamaican-American woman and longtime Newburgh resident with a knife because of her race and color," McDonald said. McDonald added that his office would continue pursuing cases involving violence motivated by racial hatred.
FBI Assistant Director in Charge James C. Barnacle Jr. said the plea recognised the harm inflicted on the victim and the need to hold perpetrators of bias-motivated violence accountable. "There is simply no tolerance for hate-fueled violence anywhere in New York," Barnacle said.
McDonald credited the FBI's New York and Miami offices, the FBI Hudson Valley White Collar Crime Task Force, the Newburgh Police Department, and the Town of Poughkeepsie Police Department for their investigative work. The Dutchess County District Attorney's Office also assisted in the case.
The prosecution is being handled by the Civil Rights and Human Trafficking Unit of the U.S. Attorney's Office, with Assistant U.S. Attorney Kaiya Arroyo leading the case.
Source: Google News JM — Crime