NORWICH – The trial for alleged hate crime shooter Wayne Spratley has been set for January 2018.

Spratley, 35, of Greene was charged with attempted murder in the second degree following a shooting that took place in a parking lot on Lackawanna Avenue in Norwich in July 2015.

District Attorney Joseph McBride claimed the shooting was a hate crime as it’s alleged Spratley said,“numerous racial slurs" at the victim before shooting what was said to be a Glock handgun.

Chenango County Judge Frank B. Revoir Jr. dismissed the hate crime allegations against Spratley nine months ago.

In a press conference held months ago, McBride said, “The investigation revealed that the allegations are that in the course of an altercation or argument with a gentleman in the City of Norwich on the 19th day of July 2015, that the defendant used racial slurs to taunt the victim. During the process of that, the defendant pulled out his weapon while continuing to call the victim racial slurs. As the argument spilled over into a parking lot in the City of Norwich, the defendant whose weapon was drawn and pointed at the victim, pulled the trigger and shot his weapon, shooting the victim in the lower left abdomen.”

The day of the shooting McBride said that the Norwich Police had interviewed every available lead and every available witness with regard to the shooting.