Newark Teen's Murderer Receives 20 Year Sentence

April 22, 2005

NEWARK — A 30 year old man has has been sentenced to 20 years behind bars for the murder of Sakia Gunn, a 15 year lesbian stabbed in a homophobic attack as she waited for a bus in in Newark in 2003.

Richard McCullough pleaded guilty last month in a plea bargain that saw murder charges reduced to aggravated manslaughter, aggravated assault and bias intimidation.

He will be eligible for parole in about 15 years.

Gunn and her 17 year old girlfriend had taken the train from Manhattan to Newark's Penn Station after spending the night in Greenwich Village.

They were waiting for a bus at the city's busiest intersection. (story) when McCullough and another man drove up around 3:30 a.m. and attempted to proposition them. The teens said they weren't interested because they were lesbians. The men then began taunting them and when a scuffle broke out Shakia Gunn was stabbed in the chest.

As McCullough thrust the knife into her he hurled homophobic epithets.

The killers fled and Gunn's friend flagged down a motorist who drove the teenager to University Hospital where she died a short time later.

The murder shocked New Jersey's gay community. More than 300 people demonstrated in front of Newark City Hall to draw attention to the murder and the violence that members of the LGBT community are subjected to.

McCullough turned himself in after police released a drawing of him based on eyewitness accounts.

In court, pleading guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter, McCullough said that the killing was not all his fault.

I stood in a defensive stance with my knife in my hand, and she lunged at me, he said.

Superior Court Judge Paul Vichness then threatened to reject the plea agreement and order a new trial because McCullough's account did not square with the prosecution's account.

Assistant Essex County Prosecutor Thomas McTigue said that despite McCullough's minimizing his responsibility he was satisfied with the courtroom confession, and Judge Vichness accepted the plea.