The Horror of Hate Crimes

It's hard to understand why someone coldly assaults and kills someone they don't even know, Arella Mae, for no apparent reason other than racial bias.

Is your lack of understanding of the crime supposed to factor into the penalty?

Quote:

. I wish I could state why this case is so upsetting but I can't.

It's hard to understand why someone coldly assaults and kills someone they don't even know, Arella Mae, for no apparent reason other than racial bias.

I can't imagine randomly picking out someone, a total stranger, and killing them for any reason, let alone for no real reason at all.

I think watching a video of someone being murdered is very disturbing--you're witnessing the actual act of murder. Do you think you would be just as upset about this crime if you had just read about it without having seen the video?

Saturday, August 20, 2011
White Mississippi Teen Charged With Hate Murder Held in Isolation

The white teenager in Mississippi who has been charged in a race-related, hit-and-run murder of a black man is being kept in isolation in prison for his own protection.

Deryl Dedmon, 19, of Brandon, is being held in a facility in Hinds County near Jackson without bond.

He is accused of intentionally running over and killing James Craig Anderson, 46, of Jackson, with a green Ford F-250.

"Due to the amount of publicity associated with this case, jail administrators made the decision to separate Mr. Dedmon from the general population and felt that in order to maintain the level of order it was in our best interest," Hinds County Sheriff's Department spokesman Lt. Jeffery Scott said Friday.

Scott declined to say whether or not Dedmon had been threatened by other inmates.

However, he noted that prisoners may have seen a video that has recently surfaced which shows the victim, Anderson, being run over.

Meanwhile, District Attorney Robert Shuler Smith upgraded the murder charge against Dedmon because Anderson allegedly was also robbed.

Smith said he is not ready to declare if he will seek the death penalty against Dedmon.

Dedmon’s alleged accomplice, John Rice, 18, has been charged with simple assault in connection with Anderson's death.

Smith has not determined if Rice will face additional charges or not.
http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/201091/20110820/deryl-dedmon-mississippi-race-hate-crime-murder.htm

I'm not understanding that simple assault charge. It was more than simple assault. Hopefully, they'll get that all straightened out.

Deryl Dedmon Pleads Guilty In Mississippi Hate Crime Hit-And-Run Of James Craig Anderson
By HOLBROOK MOHR
03/22/2012

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) -- A white teenager pleaded guilty to murder and a hate crime Wednesday for running over a black man with his pickup truck in a killing a judge called a stain on Mississippi that will take years to fade.

Deryl Dedmon, 19, apologized to the victim's family before he received two life sentences for the June 26 death of James Craig Anderson, a 47-year-old car plant worker who loved to sing in his church choir and was remembered for his sense of humor.

Dedmon, a slight, blonde man wearing a blue jumpsuit, looked down as prosecutors described the killing. Dedmon admitted that he and a group of white teens were partying in Puckett, a small town outside the capital city, when he suggested they find a black man to harass and went to Jackson because of its majority-black population. They found Anderson before dawn outside a hotel. He was beaten before Dedmon ran over him.

Prosecutors said Dedmon and others had targeted blacks for harassment before, usually homeless or drunk people who weren't likely to report it to police.

The victim's sister, Barbara Anderson Young, fought back tears when she addressed the court.

"My brother Craig would give you the shirt off of his back. Because of my brother, James Craig Anderson, our lives were richer, with love, respect and a love of God," she said. "We, the Anderson family, are praying for racial reconciliation not just in Mississippi but all over this land and country. We are praying for the defendant, Dedmon, and his family that they find peace."

When it was his turn to speak, Dedmon's shackles rattled as he turned and faced the Anderson family.

"I am sincerely sorry. I do take full responsibility for my actions on that night. I pray for y'all's family every day ... and that God will soften your hearts to forgive me," Dedmon said.

Members of both families, sitting on opposite sides of a wooden court bench, wiped away tears.

"I was young. I was dumb. I was ignorant ... I was not raised the way that I acted that night. I was raised in a godly house. As I stand before you today, I am a changed man. I am a godly man. God has showed me to see no colors. God showed me that we are all made in the image of God so we are all based on the same thing ... I do not ask y'all to forget, but I do ask y'all to forgive."

Hinds County Circuit Judge Jeff Weill Sr. had the last word.

"Your prejudice has brought shame upon you and placed a great stain on the state of Mississippi. Whatever excuse you may offer for what you have done, forget that. There's no excuse that you can offer for the family of Mr. Anderson or to your fellow Mississippians who have to try to reconcile the horrible damage you have caused," Weill said.

Weill recalled the 1964 killings of three civil rights workers who were murdered and buried in an earthen dam in a rural area in what became known as "Mississippi Burning."

"All the hard work we have done to move our state forward from that earthen dam in Neshoba County to here has been stained by you. A stain that will take years to fade," the judge said.

The case received widespread attention after a video of Anderson's death was obtained by news organizations, including The Associated Press.

The video, taken by a hotel surveillance camera, shows a green Ford truck back up in the hotel parking lot, then lunge forward. Anderson's shirt is illuminated in the headlights before he disappears under the vehicle. Police said Dedmon was driving the truck and later bragged that he ran over Anderson, using a racial slur to describe him.

Dedmon was indicted for capital murder, which in Mississippi carries a sentence of death or life in prison without parole, but District Attorney Robert Shuler Smith said prosecutors couldn't have gotten a conviction. For capital murder, there must be an underlying offense, which had been robbery. Smith said that the investigation revealed that the group did not take Anderson's wallet, as investigators first believed.

Anderson's family also asked prosecutors not to pursue the death penalty, saying they oppose it. They have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against seven teens, including two young girls who were allegedly in the truck with Dedmon.

One of the teens, John Aaron Rice, is charged with simple assault in the case. Authorities said he left the scene in another vehicle before Anderson was killed. Rice has pleaded not guilty and is free on a $5,000 bond.

The FBI has been investigating the case, too, and the judge told Dedmon that his guilty plea in state court would not prevent him from facing federal charges.

Smith said after the hearing there may be additional arrests and promised more details at a news conference Thursday. Smith said this is the first hate crime prosecution in Mississippi that he could find.

"This guilty plea is just the beginning," Smith said.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/22/deryl-dedmon_n_1372184.html

Three men plead guilty to federal hate crimes in Mississippi
Scott Bronstein, CNN
March 22, 2012

(CNN) -- Three white Mississippi men pleaded guilty to federal hate crimes Thursday in connection with the 2011 beating death of an African-American man in Jackson, the Justice Department announced.
Deryl Dedmon, John Aaron Rice and Dylan Butler each admitted to conspiracy and violating the 2009 federal hate-crimes law in last June's killing of James Craig Anderson. They face sentences of up to life in prison and $250,000 in fines, federal prosecutors said.

The 19-year-old Dedmon had already pleaded guilty to state murder and hate-crime charges Wednesday in a state court and was sentenced to life in prison. Rice, 19, and Butler, 20, made their initial appearances with Dedmon in federal court Thursday morning.

The men are among the first defendants to be prosecuted under the federal hate-crime statute that President Barack Obama signed in 2009 and the first to be prosecuted in a fatal attack, Assistant Attorney General Thomas Perez, the head of the Justice Department's civil rights division, said in a statement on Thursday's pleas.

"The Department of Justice will vigorously pursue those who commit racially motivated assaults and will use every tool at our disposal to ensure that those who commit such acts are brought to justice," Perez said. "And I note that our investigation in this matter is ongoing."

In court Thursday, all three admitted to harassing and assaulting African-Americans on several occasions in the weeks before Anderson's death, hurling beer bottles, firing slingshots and driving at them with cars, prosecutors said. They targeted people they believed to be drunk or homeless, believing them less likely to report the attacks.

They are also expected to testify against other teens implicated in Anderson's killing, two sources close to the proceedings told CNN.

They admitted to violating the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009, named for the victims of two 1998 killings that shocked the country. Matthew Shepard, a gay Wyoming teenager, died after being kidnapped, beaten and left tied to a fence, while Byrd was a black man dragged to death in Texas by white supremacists.

Anderson's death prompted several large marches and prayer vigils in Jackson, a city of about 537,000 people. At his state plea hearing, Dedmon told the court that his crimes were the result of being "young and dumb, ignorant and full of hatred."

But Hinds County Circuit Judge Jeff Weill told him, "Whatever excuse you offer, forget that. There is no excuse."

Anderson, 47, died after he was beaten and run over by a truck driven by Dedmon, who was part of a group of seven white youths from largely white Rankin County who decided to "go f**k with some niggers" after a night of partying and drinking, law enforcement officials have said, quoting some of the suspects in the case.

Authorities have said they believe Dedmon led and instigated the attack. They said the youths climbed into Dedmon's green truck and a white SUV and drove to the western edge of Jackson, where Anderson was standing in a hotel parking lot just beyond a highway exit ramp.

On a videotape obtained exclusively by CNN, the group pulls into the parking lot and stops where Anderson is standing, although he is just off camera and not visible. The young men can then be seen going back and forth between their cars and Anderson.

Witnesses told authorities this is when Anderson's beating took place, as the white youths yelled racial epithets, including "white power." After the beating, Dedmon drove his Ford F-250 truck over him, leaving him to die, according to what some of the teens cooperating with police have told authorities.

Rice initially faced state murder charges as well, but a judge reduced the charges to simple assault because he was not believed to be driving the vehicle used to kill Anderson.

At Dedmon's sentencing Wednesday, Anderson's sister, Barbara Anderson Young, said her family was praying for "racial conciliation."

"These last months have been very difficult," Young said. "We cried. We wept. We reminisced about our beloved brother, Craig, a loss I cannot even explain. Craig was a big-hearted person who loved his fellow man."
http://www.cnn.com/2012/03/22/justice/mississippi-hate-crime/

For me Fireflys wrong turn is her obvious sadism, which she likes to practice on those who have never consented to it.

You are also missing the point of this thread, which is about a hate crime/murder of a black man by a group of whites. Had you any genuine concern for black men, or civil/human rights, you would be glad to see justice served in this case.