A man recently convicted of a hate crime in vogue dancer O’Shae Sibley’s 2023 stabbing death now faces a prison sentence ranging from eight to 25 years.
Dmitriy Popov, who was 17 when Sibley was killed, had his sentencing tentatively scheduled for 30 June following his conviction.
During his trial, Popov, now 20, testified that he fatally stabbed Sibley on 29 July 2023 outside a Brooklyn gasoline station while legally defending himself. Prosecutors, however, argued that anti-LGBTQ+ hatred motivated Popov, claiming he taunted and jeered Sibley before killing him when the gay man reacted to his provocations.
On Monday, a jury found Popov guilty of manslaughter as a hate crime following a three-week trial in Brooklyn state supreme court. After deliberating for a week, jurors also convicted him of second-degree menacing, aggravated harassment in the second degree, and fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon.
However, the jury acquitted him of the more serious charge of murder as a hate crime.
The jury’s decision spared Popov a life sentence. Still, Popov’s attorney, Mark Pollard, said the manslaughter conviction means his client faces between eight and 25 years in prison.
Pollard called the verdict against Popov “probably bittersweet for both sides.”
“We’re happy he wasn’t guilty of murder but disappointed he wasn’t acquitted on the rest of the charges,” Pollard said.
Sibley had returned from a beach birthday party with friends and stopped to fill up his car with gasoline while blasting Beyoncé music when he encountered Popov.
The 28-year-old Sibley and his friends were dancing shirtless and voguing – a dance style popularized on the ballroom scene by queer Black and Latino people – when another group began taunting them.
Security camera video played at Popov’s trial showed both groups arguing for a couple of minutes before starting to go their separate ways. But Popov then approached Sibley’s group, hurled insults, and recorded them on his phone, prompting Sibley to confront him, according to witnesses.
Popov testified that he stabbed Sibley with a five-and-a-half-inch blade to protect himself after becoming “scared that he was going to get hurt.” He denied directing bigoted language at Sibley.
New York prosecutors tried Popov as an adult under a state law that allows anyone over the age of 13 accused of murder to be tried as an adult.
Sibley grew up in Philadelphia, where he performed before moving to New York to continue pursuing his dancing career. He belonged to the Philadanco dance company and used his dancing to celebrate his LGBTQ+ identity.