Yes, there were several serious crimes involved, but I guaran-damn-tee you that a 16 year old white kid would have gotten off much easier. This kind of result provides evidence for claims of institutional racism.
Institutional racism certainly did exist, and to smugly conclude that it magically disappeared is absurd. It used to be that any ridiculous lie by a White witness against a Black defendant was automatically believed. And people wonder why Blacks are hyper-sensitive about issues like this?
I fully understand the "perpetual victimhood" racket that many Black leaders run, but the snot-nosed dismissal of such issues by some Whites is equally bad. If there was a single case of justice being miscarried because of such factors, then all Americans should be profoundly concerned with ensuring that such things don't persist in a nation with ostensible "equal protection under the law"...