BOSTON, May 16, 2016—Two brothers were sentenced to state prison today after admitting that they beat a homeless man last year because they believed him to be an illegal immigrant, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said.

SCOTT LEADER (D.O.B. 7/20/77) and STEVEN LEADER (D.O.B. 8/5/85) of South Boston pleaded guilty to indictments charging them with causing bodily injury while committing a civil rights violation, assault and battery for purposes of intimidation causing bodily injury, two counts each of assault and battery, and two counts each of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.

Assistant District Attorney Nicole Rimar recommended that Scott Leader serve four to six years in state prison followed by probation and that Steven Leader serve three to four years in state prison followed by probation.

Suffolk Superior Court Judge Peter Krupp imposed lighter sentences of three years for Scott Leader and two and one-half years for Steven Leader, with both those sentences followed by three years of probation. Krupp ordered that each defendant’s first year of probation must be served at a sober house, but that each defendant may petition for release from that requirement after six months. Krupp also ordered them to serve 20 hours of community service and complete a cultural diversity training program if one exists.

“This unprovoked attack on a sleeping man disgusted every prosecutor, victim advocate, and trooper who worked on it,” Conley said. “State prison was the only appropriate sentence.”

Prior to sentencing, Rimar read a prepared statement from the victim in which he described being awoken by the men urinating on him and then beating him in the unprovoked attack on Aug. 19, 2015.

“I still feel pain all over my body from this incident,” the victim, then 58, wrote. “I don’t think my fingers will ever be the same. I came to this country many years ago and worked hard in the farm fields to provide produce to people here. I actually became a permanent resident of this country years ago, although if I had been undocumented I still would not have deserved to be beaten this way.”

Had the case proceeded to trial, Rimar would have introduced evidence and testimony to prove that the brothers kicked, punched, and urinated on the victim as he slept near the JFK/UMass MBTA station at about 12:30 that morning. One of them took a metal pole and struck the victim with it repeatedly. The two assailants then walked away laughing, witnesses said.

The victim was transported immediately to Boston Medical Center, where he was treated for a broken nose, serious bruising across his torso, and other injuries. With the help of civilian witnesses, State Police identified and apprehended the brothers shortly after the attack.

At the State Police barracks in South Boston, the evidence would have shown, Scott Leader made a series of incriminating statements, including that he and his brother “tuned up” an “illegal immigrant,” and that this behavior was acceptable because the victim was homeless and Hispanic.

Michael Coffey was the DA’s assigned victim-witness advocate. The defendants were represented by attorneys Victoria Kelleher and Jessica Tripp.

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All defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt