FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Prosecutors in Broward County have dropped charges against a Ukrainian refugee family accused of an anti-gay hate crime in 2022.
Five members of the Makarenko family had been implicated in the alleged homophobic beating in Pompano Beach. Authorities had accused them of beating the alleged victim to the point of blindness after finding out that he had been in a same-sex relationship with one of the suspects, Oleh Makarenko, then 21.
Also charged were Inna Makarenko, Yevhen Makarenko, Pavel Makarenko and Vladyslav Makarenko. They steadfastly maintained their innocence.
The victim originally told authorities that he fell at his Pompano Beach home on Aug. 6, 2021. He implicated the family six months later.
The state argued that he changed his story because he was afraid.
Prosecutors later dropped the case against Vladyslav Makarenko after defense attorneys provided evidence that he was out of the town at the time of the alleged beating.
In a closeout memo detailing their decision to drop the entire case, prosecutors wrote, “The primary issue that has arisen in this case is the lack of evidence and identification of the alleged attackers. Officers who first responded to the scene were suspicious that the victim was not being truthful in what happened to him.”
Prosecutors said they would not be able to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the family was present at the home on Aug. 6.
“Though it was apparent that a crime was committed, there is no likelihood of conviction that these defendants committed such crimes,” prosecutors wrote.