Three years ago, O’Shae Sibley was stabbed to death in New York, at a gas station where he was voguing to a Beyoncé song. The trial of his killer, Dmitriy Popov, ended with a conviction.
“O’Shae Sibley se contentait d’être lui-même, un homme noir et gay profitant d’une soirée d’été, mais sa simple existence a suffi à pousser le prévenu à l’insulter, le harceler puis le tuer.” These are the words with which the Brooklyn District Attorney, Eric Gonzalez, closed his closing argument on Thursday, July 16, before the New York court. Three years after the murder of O’Shae Sibley, a 28-year-old dancer stabbed in the summer of 2023, the principal suspect, Dmitriy Popov, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for hate-crime-motivated involuntary manslaughter.
This decision closes a case that has left its mark on the United States’ memory. After his death, the outpouring of emotion extended far beyond the borders of New York. Under the hashtag #JusticeForOShaeSibley, dancers, artists, the voguing community, and people around the world paid tribute to the victim, and hundreds gathered at the scene in the days following the tragedy. Beyoncé dedicated the homepage of her official website to his memory, writing: “Rest in power O’Shae Sibley” — the song he was voguing to at the time of the incident was from her album Renaissance. Filmmaker Spike Lee had, for his part, posted on his social networks: “God bless you, my brother.”
Hate-Crime-Motivated Involuntary Manslaughter
On the evening of July 29, 2023, O’Shae Sibley stopped with four friends at a Brooklyn gas station to refuel. After a few dance steps in the parking lot, they were confronted by a group of young men. Very quickly, homophobic remarks and racist comments, according to New York police, were directed at them. After a few minutes, while the rest of the group departed, Dimitriy Popov, 17, continued taunting the five friends while filming the scene on his cellphone. O’Shae Sibley stepped forward to face him. Popov pulled out a knife and first threatened to stab one of the dancer’s friends. The friend intervened and received a 14-centimeter blade in the chest that pierced his heart. Taken to the hospital, he died from his injuries less than an hour later. Dmitriy Popov turned himself in to the police one week after the deadly assault.
During the hearing, the young man’s defense requested that he be granted the status of a “juvenile delinquent,” a regime provided by law for minors, allowing the conviction to be erased and the sentence greatly reduced. The judge rejected this request, given the gravity of the facts. On the stand, Dimitriy Popov gave his version: “I never intended to kill anyone. I had a knife, but I did not intend to use it.” The defendant invoked self-defense, arguing that Sibley had rushed at him to strike him after pulling out his knife.
Later, he denied any discriminatory motive: “I want everyone to know that this had nothing to do with race or sexuality.” Facts contradicted by several witnesses at the trial, who testified that homophobic and racist insults had been directed at O’Shae Sibley and his friends before the knife was drawn. After hours of deliberation, the verdict rejected the murder charge for failure to establish the intent to kill, but found Dmitriy Popov guilty of hate-crime-motivated involuntary manslaughter, and recognized threats, aggravated harassment, and criminal possession of a weapon as aggravating circumstances. The young man was sentenced to 20 years in prison, a punishment close to the law’s maximum of 25 years imprisonment.
