Dmitriy Popov got 20 years behind bars for the hate-motivated fatal stabbing of professional dancer O’Shae Sibley at a Brooklyn gas station, in an emotional courtroom scene where the victim’s friends and loved ones sobbed and hugged prosecutors as they spoke about their loss.
Popov, 20, showed no response as Brooklyn Supreme Court Judge Dena Douglas handed down his sentence Thursday.
Popov was convicted of manslaughter as a hate crime June 8 after a three-week trial for the July 29, 2023 killing and faced the possibility of a 25-year maximum sentence, with a mandatory minimum of eight years. A jury acquitted him of the more serious charge of murder as a hate crime.
Douglas curtly denied Popov’s request to be granted leniency as a youthful offender, and told him he couldn’t even turn to face Sibley’s family as he apologized to them.
“I apologize to everybody this unfortunate event has affected. I never wanted to kill anybody, “Popov told the judge. “This decision that was made, I wish I could take it back with my heart…. I want everybody to know, this had nothing to do with race, with sexuality. This had nothing to do with that. I just wish I could take it back. I’m sorry.”
Popov was 17 years old when he knifed Sibley, who was gay and Black, at the Mobil station on Coney Island Ave. near Avenue P in Midwood, the tragic end to a hate-fueled caught-on-video confrontation sparked by Popov and his buddies.
The judge offered Popov no remarks on why she handed down the 20 years.
“I felt like justice was served,” said Sibley’s sister, Destineh Kelly, one of eight people who gave victim impact statements. She and other family members scoffed at his remarks and apology outside the courtroom, saying they didn’t feel it was sincere.
“I think that it just shows that he has not taken accountability and responsibility for his own actions,” Brooklyn D.A. Eric Gonzalez said Thursday. “He was the person who kept taunting and kept insulting and would not let it go. He could have simply walked away, and O’Shae would have never lost his life trying to defend another, and so it’s infuriating that he just says it’s unfortunate.”
Sibley’s mother, Onetha Sibley, was too overcome by emotion to speak before the judge, though after the proceeding she said she had to forgive Popov because hating him damaged her health.
“I got really sick. I hated that boy, but deep down, I had to forgive. As soon as I did it, I started eating, I started sleeping,” she said. “But he killed the wrong boy. He killed the wrong boy.”
She said she hasn’t read an apology letter Popov wrote.
Popov and his friends from a nearby smoke shop were grabbing food at the gas station’s Bolla Market when they came upon Sibley and his group — who were returning home after a day at the beach, “living their best lives” and dancing to Beyoncé in their swimsuits to as they pumped gas.
One of Popov’s pals started yelling “Get that gay s–t out of here” and “Get that f—y s–t out of here,” several witnesses testified. Popov held his phone up, recording.
Sibley tried to defuse the confrontation, at one point saying, “You don’t know us, we’re just having a good time and enjoying our lives. It’s all respect, we’re allowed to be here just like you.”
The two groups split up, the confrontation seemingly over, but Popov kept recording and, according to several witnesses, called them “f—ing f—-ts.” Two members of a Shomrim volunteer patrol across the street testified they heard Popov use the n-word. Popov, who took the stand in his own defense, denied uttering any slurs.
Sibley and two of his friends walked back toward Popov, still in their bathing suits and visibly unarmed, and Popov pulled a large knife from his gym shorts pocket and pointed it at one of the dancer’s pals.
Sibley rushed Popov, apparently to disarm the teen and save his friends, prosecutors argued, and Popov stabbed him in the heart.
He then fled back to the smoke shop and got rid of both the knife and his cell phone, before surrendering to police a week later.
Popov claimed self-defense, with his lawyer describing him as a scared teenager afraid for his life, but the jury rejected that argument.
During cross-examination, Popov gave a version of events that contradicted what was often visible in video footage and insisted he never used any slurs, despite testimony from a half-dozen witnesses. He admitted that he threw away his phone, which contained the only footage from the scene with audio.
“Seventeen-year-old old individuals are not fully formed adults They often act impulsively. They act emotionally,” Popov’s lawyer, Mark Pollard, said Thursday.
Most of Sibley’s loved ones didn’t mention Popov during their statements, instead focusing on their loss, and the loss to the Black gay community worldwide. As they spoke, Popov’s father muttered with impatience in the second row of the courtroom. He did not comment to reporters after the sentencing.
“This will be felt beyond this courtroom, beyond this trial, for many years to come. I was made to feel like someone who didn’t deserve to exist at a gas station,” said Philip Wilson, one of Sibley’s friends who was there that night. “I will never get to watch my friend dance again. I lost a part of my smile that day, my hope that night, by losing a friend.”
Another friend, Joshua Sanchez, spoke about Popov directly, asking the judge to give him the maximum.
“The impact is way bigger than I can put into words today,” he said. “I walk in constant fear, as a Black feminine-presenting man in America. I walk in constant fear for my life.”
Sanchez added, “The PTSD is unbearable. I don’t sleep. That night completely ruined me. He could get out, but I could never get that piece of me back,” he said. “We didn’t go to that gas station being hateful. We came with joy and happiness and he ruined it because he wanted to.”
