Man will spend up to four years in prison after brutally attacking gay victim at a bar

A man in Woodstock, New York, was sentenced this week to two to four years in prison for anti-LGBTQ+ hate crimes.

In December, 31-year-old Shayne Wilber pleaded guilty to second-degree menacing and third-degree assault. The misdemeanor charges were elevated to felony hate crimes, the Middletown Times Herald- Record reports.

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Police are investigating the attack as a hate crime.

In April 2023, Wilbur shouted homophobic slurs at another man at an Ulster County bar after learning that the man was gay, according to the Ulster County District Attorney’s office. Wilbur threw an object at the victim, injuring his lip, before jumping over the bar and physically attacking him while brandishing a box cutter.

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As part of his guilty plea, Wilber admitted that he attacked the unnamed victim because of his sexual orientation.

On Friday, County Court Judge Bryan Rounds sentenced Wilber to two to four years in state prison. Wilber, who was already under the Ulster County Probation Department’s supervision at the time of the attack, was also required to write an apology letter to the victim and the community.

In a statement, Deputy Chief Assistant District Attorney Paul Derohannesian, who prosecuted the case, said the victim had moved to the Hudson Valley community “because he believed he would be accepted for who he is based on our values.”

“It is deeply concerning that he was targeted in this insidious way in public, jeopardizing other patrons’ safety and exposing them to [Wilber’s] hateful beliefs,” Derohannesian said.

“Ulster County is enriched by its diversity in its people and ideas, religious, social and political orientations and ideologies,” Ulster County District Attorney Emmanuel Nneji added. “Anyone who has any ideas of committing a hate crime in this county should be on notice that they will be prosecuted to the fullest extent allowed by law.”