Man convicted of manslaughter as a hate crime after killing of dancer O’Shae Sibley
Dancer O’Shea Sibley was fatally stabbed in 2023. (Facebook)
A New York jury has convicted 20-year-old Dmitriy Popov of first-degree manslaughter as a hate crime in the 2023 killing of O’Shae Sibley, a professional dancer whose death sparked widespread outrage across the LGBTQ+ community.
Popov was also found guilty of second-degree menacing, second-degree aggravated harassment and fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon, though jurors acquitted him of the more serious charge of murder as a hate crime.
Sibley, 28, was fatally stabbed during a confrontation at a Brooklyn gas station in July 2023. Prosecutors argued that Popov and others targeted Sibley and his friends with racist and anti-gay slurs while they danced and vogued to music by Beyoncé.
According to prosecutors, Popov continued taunting the group before the encounter turned deadly. Popov maintained throughout the trial that he acted in self-defence.
Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said Sibley’s life was cut short because the defendant “couldn’t stand the sight” of him and his friends “living their lives openly as Black gay men.” He expressed hope that the verdict would bring some measure of comfort to Sibley’s family and the wider LGBTQ+ community during Pride Month.
A talented performer, Sibley danced with PHILADANCO! and studied through Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre’s Ailey Extension program in New York. His funeral drew hundreds of mourners, while public figures including Beyoncé and Spike Lee paid tribute following his death.
Popov is scheduled to be sentenced on 30 June and faces between eight and 25 years in prison on the manslaughter conviction.
