Charges Upgraded for Alleged Killer of Man Near Union Square

By ALEX ELLEFSON & DAVID BELTRAN

A homeless Brooklyn man who was accused of killing a 62-year-old man last month after allegedly claiming he would “punch out the first white guy I see,” was indicted on first-degree manslaughter on Tuesday.

Following the indictment, 42-year-old Martin Redrick yelled, “What’s my bail?” at Judge Renee A. White who told him he was being remanded without bail.

Redrick, who was diagnosed with schizophrenia in 2007, was ordered to undergo a psychiatric exam.

Redrick, using the alias Lashawn Marten, was arrested in September after punching 62-year-old Jeffrey Babbitt in Union Square. He was charged last month with three counts of assault, including one felony after Babbitt suffered a head injury and died five days after the attack as he was declared brain dead.

He was previously being held on $1 million bond as a Manhattan grand jury looked at evidence that could upgrade the charges against Marten to a hate crime.

In a September jailhouse interview, Redrick said, “I’ve punched white people. I’ve punched brown people. I’ve punched Hispanic people.”

“So what? I don’t target anyone,” he said.

Marten’s lawyer, Michael Croce, did not agree with the court’s new charges.

“ Mr. Marten was grossly overcharged,” said Croce, “because manslaughter requires them [prosecutors] to prove that he intended to commit serious injury.

Photo of murder victim, Jeffrey Babbitt.