Roca/NewsJohn White and his wife Sonia as they leave the courthouse after his guilty verdict was handed down.
Roca/NewsMembers of the Cicciaro family celebrate the verdict.
Posted on 12/22/2007 10:38:31 PM PST by Stoat
Saturday, December 22nd 2007, 10:25 PM
Roca/NewsJohn White and his wife Sonia as they leave the courthouse after his guilty verdict was handed down.
Roca/NewsMembers of the Cicciaro family celebrate the verdict.
The black Long Island father charged with shooting a white teen was convicted of manslaughter Saturday night by a jury that rejected his claim he was defending his family from a "lynch mob."
John White, 54, was found guilty of gunning down 17-year-old Daniel Cicciaro last year in the racially charged case.
"We're going to Disney. Wooo!" the victim's father, Daniel Cicciaro Sr., crowed, as he left the Arthur M. Cromarty Court complex in Riverhead, L.I., Saturday night.
"My son is finally vindicated," the teen's mother, Joanne Cicciaro, said. "The truth prevailed.
"It was never about race. It was about individuals and individuals' actions."
Cicciaro's relatives started honking their horns in the parking lot.
White, who also was convicted of criminal possession of a weapon, had maintained that the shooting was accidental. He was permitted to remain free on bail until sentencing, when he is to face a prison term of 5 to 15 years.
He had no comment last night.
The ruling came on the fourth day of tense jury deliberations that followed a trial in which defense attorneys referenced the Ku Klux Klan in arguing the shooting was justified. Jurors reported they were deadlocked on Friday.
Reaction in the courtroom was muted after Judge Barbara Kahn had warned the spectators against "public displays of approval or disapproval when the verdict is read."
White testified during the trial that he was trying to protect his family when he brandished a gun last year after a group of angry white teenagers showed up at his doorstep late at night to confront his then-19-year-old son, Aaron.
John White had been sleeping inside his home in Miller Place, a predominantly white community in eastern Long Island, on Aug. 9, 2006, when Aaron woke him to say that a group of angry teens was headed to their house bent on beating him up.
Minutes earlier, Aaron White had gotten into a fight with the boys after being asked to leave a house party.
The elder White first grabbed a shotgun, but then opted instead for a pistol he kept in his garage.
He and his son, who had picked up the shotgun, walked to the end of the driveway to confront the angry gang, who hurled racial epithets.
John White said his gun went off accidentally after Cicciaro lunged for it.
"He wanted to stop these people who said they were coming to kill his son," defense attorney Fred Brewington said in closing arguments.
Suffolk County Assistant District Attorney James Chalifoux said White should have simply locked the door and called police - and not gone outside to confront the teenagers with a gun.
He also sought to downplay the racial element, telling jurors the Brooklyn-raised White never said anything about a lynch mob until the case went to trial.
The defendant's wife, Sonia White, said only, "We are blessed by the Lord."
Ping
If I had a gun and some angry hooligan teenagers came after my son, I would confront them.
Class act.
Even if you could easily lock yourself in your secure home and call the police?
Then you would be found guilty as well....the law is clear on this.
The crowd of white kids outside was unarmed, according to the articles....they were only making drunken noise.
Going outside with a drawn gun into a situation like that suggests a profound ignorance of the law on the part of Mr. White, and ignorance of the law is not an excuse for breaking it.
Just from the way the Cicciaro family reacted, you can understand why their son turned out to be a punk. That kid actually went out of his way to get himself killed.
Call the police yes, but staying inside is no guarantee of safety.
The crowd of white kids outside was unarmed, according to the articles....they were only making drunken noise.
I've read the articles as well since I live nearby. These kids were on his property! They were threatning to harm his kid. And who cares if they were unarmed? They were four and he was only one, 50+ year old guy.
All White was doing was protecting his family.
What’s the difference between this guy and Joe Horn, who is considered a Freeper hero?
Good point.
Another good point.
New York Post articles are link/excerpt only. Your post had to be removed.
I’m on John White’s side on this one.
If the crowd had tried to break into his house or had done anything other than simply make noise, I would be also.
Nothing, except a mob was coming after his son instead of burglars coming for the neighbor’s property!
Joe Horn shot strangers who were escaping with their burglary loot while in Texas. John White shot an unarmed teenager who was known by his son in the face at point-blank range during a verbal argument while in New York.
There are lots of differences.
When seconds count, the PD are only minutes away...
Yes, and Mr. White chose to use those precious seconds to go out to his garage and get a revolver, and then go outside and escalate the situation far beyond what was necessary.
I'm all for self-defense within the law, but the law doesn't cover someone who intentionally escalates the situation beyond what it was.
When a black man on Long Island calls police saying that his house is under siege by a gang of drunken white kids, the cops will probably be there in seconds considering how eager they are to avoid any hint of a 'racial incident'.
Mr. White was only under immediate threat because he chose to go outside and place himself under imminent threat.
Based on the facts in the article, a clear case of self-defense. A person has an inalienable right to keep and bear arms, and to use arms in defense of his self, his family and his property (all of which apply here.) Any local law requiring otherwise is Unconstitutional. No policeman, or other government official, can logically have greater right to use deadly force in self defense than any common person, since all government power derives solely from the people themselves. A policeman cannot obtain rights from the people, unless the people already have those rights as individuals.
I read on another FR thread that the rape threat was sent from Mr. White’s son’s Myspace account as a prank by a friend of White’s son. Thus the shooting victim did not know that it was not sent by Mr. White’s son himself.
He was only faced with a threat to his life because he needlessly escalated the situation.
The cops could have come and diffused the situation, as they frequently do.
He had an easy opportunity to diffuse the situation and prevent it from escalating, which he chose not to do. He chose to roll the dice and handle it himself, and this time the roll didn’t come up in his favor.
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