Newark Man Pleads Guilty
To Killing Lesbian in 2003
Ann Hull, washingtonpost.com from the Web, March 5, 2005
Newark, NJ -- A man charged with fatally stabbing a 15-year-old lesbian in Newark has pleaded guilty to aggravated manslaughter.
In one of New Jersey's first bias-crime murder cases, Richard McCullough, 30, of Newark faced trial this spring in the death of Sakia Gunn, a Newark 10th-grader.
In May 2003, Gunn was at a downtown bus stop with friends when McCullough and another man drove up and asked whether they wanted to go to a party.
Gunn replied that she was a lesbian and not interested. A fight ensued, and McCullough stabbed Gunn in the chest and drove off.
McCullough originally was indicted under New Jersey's bias-crime statute. He faced more than 110 years in prison if found guilty under the stiffer penalties for bias crimes.
At Thursday's hearing, he admitted calling Gunn a "dyke" but also said that she ran into his knife.
In exchange for McCullough's plea, Assistant Essex County Prosecutor Thomas McTigue agreed to reduce the murder indictment to aggravated manslaughter with bias intimidation.
McCullough now faces 20 to 25 years in prison. His sentencing is scheduled for April 21.
Gunn's family and friends had mixed feelings. "I feel that justice is being served halfway," said Valencia Bailey, who was with Gunn and held her as she died.
"But there's some things you can't change."
The killing galvanized young lesbians in Newark and was one of the subjects of a 2004 Washington Post series called "Young and Gay in Real America."
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