A judge sentenced a 20-year-old Brooklyn man to two decades in prison Thursday after he was convicted of a hate crime for fatally stabbing a Black, gay man at a Midwood gas station in 2023.
A jury found Dmitriy Popov guilty of first-degree manslaughter as a hate crime and other charges for killing O’Shae Sibley, 28. Jurors acquitted him of murder. Popov was 17 at the time of the stabbing, but Brooklyn prosecutors tried him as an adult.
Justice Dena Douglas sentenced Popov to 20 years in prison for the manslaughter charge and 1 year in prison to run concurrently for the other charges, followed by 5 years of post-supervision release.
Popov’s defense attorney asked the judge to treat him as a “youthful offender,” which would have allowed him to receive a much shorter sentence. But the prosecution urged Douglas to impose a lengthy prison term to account for the pain that Popov inflicted not just on Sibley and his loved ones, but also on the broader Black and queer communities.
The year Sibley was killed marked a record for reported hate crimes against gay men and Black people since at least 2019, according to NYPD data. Black and gay dancers flocked to the Midwood gas station to “vogue” in his honor.
“My brother should not have been killed. He did nothing wrong,” Dezirah Kelly, one of Sibley’s sisters, told the judge. “Being true to himself should have been inspiration and not looked at as if it was a weapon. Happiness should inspire other people to be happy — not to inflict harm.”
On July 29, 2023, Sibley and several friends — all Black, gay men — were dancing to Beyoncé in their bathing suits while they refueled at the end of a beach day. Popov, who worked at a smoke shop down the block, was inside the gas station’s mini mart getting food with a few friends.
Senior Assistant District Attorney Sarah Jafari, left, holds the hand of Oneitha Sibley, O’Shae Sibley’s mother, with Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez after the sentencing.
When Popov and his friends stepped out of the mini mart and saw Sibley’s group, they started to yell homophobic slurs and tell them to leave, Sibley’s friends testified at trial. Surveillance footage played in court shows Popov recording on his cellphone and mouthing words, though the security footage does not include audio. Popov testified at trial that he was “not sure” what had happened to the video he had recorded and that he had thrown away his phone.
After several minutes of verbal back-and-forth, Popov took a knife out of his pocket, according to surveillance footage. The video then shows Sibley running toward Popov. Popov stabbed Sibley in the torso and punctured his heart, killing him.
At Thursday’s sentencing, many of Sibley’s relatives and friends addressed the judge about the lingering effects of his loss. Otis Pena, who was with Sibley when Popov stabbed him, trembled as he described waking up with night terrors about his friend’s killing.
“It messed me up to have my brother die in my arms,” he said, telling the judge that he’s now on various medications to cope with the effects on his mental health.
Pena was one of several friends who testified emotionally at trial about what they witnessed outside the gas station on Coney Island Avenue. At the sentencing, he said he and Sibley moved to New York City together to pursue their dreams of dancing and singing.
“Now it’s hard. It’s hard to sing that song again,” Pena said. “It’s hard to do everything I love to do again.”
Other friends who were with Sibley when he was killed told the judge they now worry they could also be targeted for their identity.
“I walk in constant fear, being a Black, femme-presenting man,” said Joshua Sanchez. “I’m always looking over my shoulder.”
Philip Wilson said the way he and his friends were treated at the gas station made him feel like he shouldn’t exist.
“I lost a part of my smile that day,” he said.
Popov’s attorney, Mark Pollard, told the judge that his client should receive leniency because his brain wasn’t fully developed as a teenager. He said Popov has graduated from high school, gone through restorative justice programming and mentored other incarcerated young people since his arrest.
“Our system should encourage young people who make terrible mistakes to become better people,” the defense attorney said.
Popov also addressed the judge, hunching over the microphone and pausing between words. He apologized to Sibley’s family and said he wished he could take back his decision.
“I know that nothing I can say would change or bring O’Shae back. I know it’s very hard for everybody that loved him,” Popov said. “No matter the outcome of my sentence, I just ask for forgiveness from the family, the friends and their loved ones. I would want everybody to know that this had nothing to do with race, with sexuality. It had nothing to do with that.”
After the judge announced her sentence, Sibley’s mother, Oneitha Sibley, said she wasn’t sure if Popov’s apology was genuine. She burst out crying at one point during the proceedings and said she wasn’t looking closely at the defendant while he was speaking.
Oneitha Sibley said when Popov killed her son, it made her physically sick.
“I hated that child,” she said. “But deep down, I had to forgive. As soon as I did it, I started eating, I started sleeping. I felt better.”
She said Popov will have “a lot to think about” over the next 20 years.
“I just hope he gets his life right. But he killed the wrong boy,” she said, her voice catching. “I just miss my baby.”
This story has been updated with additional information.
