Earlier this year, we reported on the story of Taj Patterson, a gay black man who fell victim to a violent hate crime when a group of Orthodox Jewish men attacked him in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Williamsburg in December 2013.

The men, who were part of a Jewish security patrol in the area, allegedly surrounded Patterson and shouted anti-gay slurs at him while beating him up so severely that his right eye socket became detached.

Police charged the men with assault and a lengthy court battle between the two groups ensued.

Though the odds initially seemed stacked in Patterson's favor, the prosecution faced a serious roadblock when their two key witnesses recanted their testimony.

Patterson's lawyer, Andrew Stoll, claimed they were pressured into changing their story by members of the neighborhood's Hasidic community.

“The Shomrim claim they are committed to justice, yet they shut down witnesses with an efficiency the Mafia would envy," he said at the time. "They banish and shun any member of their community who dares to come forward.”

After losing their witnesses, the prosecution's case all but crumbled, a fact that was affirmed yesterday when Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Danny Chun sentenced Pinchas Braver and Abraham Winkler, the only men in the group who admitted to the vicious crime, to 150 hours of community service in lieu of any jail time.

The only requirement for the community service? That it be served out at an organization that is "culturally diverse."

In addition to the service, the men are both required to pay $1,400 in restitution to Patterson.

h/t: Daily News