When a white 17-year-old fatally stabbed a gay Black dancer outside a gas station in Brooklyn in July 2023, the police and prosecutors said he was motivated by hate.<\/p>\n
The dancer, O\u2019Shae Sibley, 28, was out with four friends late that night, blasting Beyonc\u00e9 as they filled up a rental car with gas. Tired but happy after a long day at the beach, they were laughing and chatting. Mr. Sibley kicked up one leg gracefully as one of his friends shimmied up and down the parking lot, video shows.<\/p>\n
Soon after, Dmitriy Popov \u2014 who is charged with murder in the second degree as a hate crime and with manslaughter in Mr. Sibley\u2019s death \u2014 and a group of his friends came out of the store, hurling gay and racist slurs, prosecutors have said. When Mr. Sibley lunged at Mr. Popov, the teenager plunged a five-and-a-half inch blade into Mr. Sibley\u2019s chest, hitting his heart, they said.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, Mr. Popov, now 20, took the stand and tried to convince a jury that he was acting out of fear, not hate.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was scared,\u201d he said, testifying in his own defense in State Supreme Court in Brooklyn. \u201cI was scared that I was going to get hurt.\u201d<\/p>\n
For about three hours on Wednesday, Mr. Popov, dressed in a white shirt buttoned to his collar and black slacks, sat in the witness chair. He denied ever using gay or racist slurs directed at Mr. Sibley and his friends.<\/p>\n
He mumbled throughout much of his testimony and was sometimes unintelligible. He appeared calm, but swallowed hard and spoke softly when he was asked about stabbing Mr. Sibley.<\/p>\n
It is unusual for defendants to take the stand during a criminal trial since the onus is on prosecutors to prove a person\u2019s culpability. Most defense attorneys avoid the strategy out of concern it could expose their clients to cross-examination and undercut them in front of the jury.<\/p>\n
In the case of Mr. Popov, there was never any doubt he killed Mr. Sibley: Video showed the killing and he admitted it in open court.<\/p>\n
But Mr. Popov\u2019s lawyer, Mark Pollard, said his client had wanted to take the stand from the beginning of the case because he \u201cis telling the truth.\u201d He described Mr. Popov as a teenager who acted impulsively and in a panic because he was afraid and very young.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe had no choice but to take the stand to tell the jury that he was acting out of self-defense,\u201d Mr. Pollard said.<\/p>\n
Mr. Popov said that night he pulled out his phone to record Mr. Sibley\u2019s friends because he was amused by their antics. One of them, Otis Pena, a dancer and close friend of Mr. Sibley, was wearing a jock strap as he danced in the parking lot.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt first, it was funny to me, a guy was dancing with his butt out,\u201d Mr. Popov said.<\/p>\n
He said that he did not call out slurs but that one of the teenagers in the group he was with did so and that he did not approve of what that youth was saying.<\/p>\n
When Mr. Sibley, who wore only swim trunks, sneakers and a black baseball hat, approached them, he was calm at first, trying to de-escalate the tension, Mr. Popov said. But as the argument grew more heated, Mr. Sibley and his friends started to surround him, and he said he felt overwhelmed.<\/p>\n
He said Mr. Sibley \u201cran at me\u201d and punched him in the head, leading him to stab Mr. Sibley.<\/p>\n
During cross-examination, one of the prosecutors, Sarah Jafari, raised her voice and challenged Mr. Popov\u2019s testimony, pointing out that at least half a dozen witnesses had testified that he cursed and used slurs against Mr. Sibley and his friends.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo it\u2019s your testimony that they all came in here and lied to this jury but you\u2019re the one who is telling the truth?\u201d Ms. Jafari asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes,\u201d he said. \u201cI did not say no racial slurs or any homophobic slurs.\u201d<\/p>\n
She played the surveillance video outside the gas station in the Midwood neighborhood that showed Mr. Sibley and his friends walking away at one point, with Mr. Sibley holding up a peace sign. Mr. Popov\u2019s friends had gone back inside the gas station, but he remained outside, recording and calling out to Mr. Sibley and his friends.<\/p>\n
The video did not include any audio, but Mr. Popov appears to be yelling and smiling.<\/p>\n
Mr. Popov, who at the time lived in the Sheepshead Bay section of Brooklyn with his mother, said he was telling Mr. Sibley and his friends to go away because they were yelling at him and telling him to go away.<\/p>\n