Alleged hate case against four Oceanside men adjourned to Dec. 6

Those who know the criminal court system know that it grinds infinitely small, but slowly.

Motions and arguments of four Oceanside men who have been charged with assault as a hate crime and gang assault were to have been heard in Sept 25 — nearly two months after the alleged assault took place on a Babylon street in late July. Without fanfare or explanation, court sources say, that hearing was adjourned until Dec. 6,

The four Oceanside residents — Justin Buckley, 17, Shane Buckley, 18, Nicholas Battaglia, 18, and Gregory Gilbert, 20 — were all charged in First District Court in Islip with assault as a hate crime on July 23. In addition, Shane Buckley, Gilbert and Battaglia were charged with gang assault.

County prosecutors allege that at about 3:30 a.m. on July 21, the two Buckley brothers, Battaglia and Gilbert were walking on Deer Park Avenue in Babylon when they called across the street to ask two men how to get to the nearby train station.

Words were apparently exchanged between the four Oceanside men and the two Babylon men, including, court papers allege, homophobic slurs.

“The four assailants started yelling anti-gay slurs, crossed the street and attacked them,” Suffolk County Assistant District Attorney Lawrence Opisso said. The victims were taken to Good Samaritan Hospital Medical Center in West Islip, according to court documents, where one was admitted with a broken nose.

Family members said they did not believe the hate crime charge. After the initial July arraignment, family members charged that the police and prosecutors were blowing the case out of proportion.

Opisso, however, said that blood was found on Shane Buckley’s sneaker, and he said that more serious charges could yet be filed. Opisso declined to say what triggered the fight, which was broken up by an off-duty New York City police officer who happened to see the assault.

Defense attorneys said that the two Babylon men started the fight with insults after being asked how to get to the train station.

Opisso asked U.S. District Court Judge G. Ann Spelman to set bail at $100,000 cash or $250,000 bond. Justin Buckley’s attorney, Jonathan Manley, called that request “absurd,” and Spelman, noting that none of the defendants had criminal records, set bail at $5,000 cash or $10,000 bond.

Ronkonkoma attorney Anthony Ciaccio, who represents the unidentified victim who was hospitalized with a broken nose, said that despite the hate crime charge, his client is not gay. Ciaccio said that his client was “viciously attacked for no reason.”

The Buckleys, Battaglia and Gilbert have received support on Facebook from community members, who maintain that the altercation was just another drunken “boys will be boys” fight and had nothing to do with homophobia or sexual orientation.