A white man accused of pummeling a black man over the head with a baseball bat was sentenced to 15 years in prison Monday in a hate-crime case that focused on the defendant’s use of the n-word before the attack.

Nicholas Minucci, 20, who faced up to 25 years in prison, was convicted last month of second-degree assault as a hate crime for the 2005 attack in Howard Beach....

“Nicholas Minucci has exhibited a history of violence and intolerance,” the prosecutor, Mariela Herring, told the judge....

Weighing against Minucci [were] two violent youthful offender convictions, including a hate crime from 9/11 when he shot a paint ball at a Sikh man about to go into a temple and pray for World Trade Center victims.

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