FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. (WSVN) - Charges have been dropped for one member of a family charged with the beating of a gay man in Pompano Beach.
The family of four was charged with nearly killing a man and leaving him blind after the attack on Aug. 6.
The State Attorney’s Office on Thursday announced that charges against 25-year-old Vladyslav Makarenko had been dropped.
Makarenko claims he was out of the state at the time of the attack.
His attorneys said they turned over evidence of this to the State Attorney’s Office, and the office then spoke with witnesses resulting in the attempted murder, kidnapping and burglary charges being dropped.
“We presented some very compelling evidence a few days ago to the state attorney, and he swiftly reviewed it and contacted witnesses that provided the alibi information, the information we provided, they confirmed,” said defense attorney Mike Glasser. “He did the right thing and dropped the case.”
Makarenko, his mother, father and two brothers have been accused of beating a man because he was in a homosexual relationship with one of their sons.
According to police, the family did not approve of the relationship.
Police said they drove to the victim’s house and began to beat him. He was left with broken bones, head trauma and blinded.
According to the family’s attorney, he believes the case against the other family members will begin to unravel because of the latest move from the State Attorney’s Office.
Remember, there’s still four of them in custody who still are facing those charges, so this simply relates to one of the family members, Vladyslav, but I am extremely confident that the information we’ve gathered regarding the other family members is equally or more compelling to show that this family had nothing to do with this man’s injuries,” said Glasser.
According to the Broward Sheriff’s Office, they were able to pin the cellphones of the family members to the crime scene.
They also said the victim was able to describe the suspects and their car in detail.
Makarenko is from Ukraine and will not be immediately released, as he has an ICE hold. ICE has 48 hours to determine whether he will remain in jail or be moved to one of their facilities.
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