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."
Yeah, classy. Of all the things I would be thinking if I were him, that would be the last thing.
That would be voluntary manslaughter, or what NY apparently calls first degree manslaughter. Spunkets has informed us that he was convicted of 2nd degree manslaughter, which by it's definition, is what many states call involuntary manslaughter.
LOL....nail on head partner
Ditto. I'd characterize it as an accident and tragedy. Too bad the classless "adults" there are stuck on vengeance, hate and political gain. If my kid was killed doing a mob action thing on someone's home by his incompetent victim, I certainly wouldn't be blaming the victim.
I would also dislike having a bunch of drunken lowlifes yelling threats at my house. My point is that White behaved in a tactically-stupid manner
His first mistake was to not call 911 immediately.
His second was to go out there with his pistol instead of staying closer to the house.
His third and biggest mistake was to allow the drunken louts to get within arm's reach. The gun is a weapon best used at a distance -- once you allow your opponent to get within grabbing range, he controls the situation, not you
His underlying mistake was to let his ego control the situation. He would have been in a much better legal position if he waited inside for the thugs to make an offensive move that would have justified a defensive response.
A gun is a tool which, used intelligently, can get you out of bad trouble, and can make a bad situation much worse when used unintelligently.
When I train people, I stress that it is not a magic talisman that will make trouble go away merely by waving it around. A person who is not under threat of death or serious injury has no business reaching for his gun. Conversely, if you DO have just cause to draw, you must be prepared to fire without hesitation if your opponent crosses a line, and you should have decided well ahead of time what your lines will be. For me, my lines include: my opponent reaching for a weapon; his being within range of harming a child of mine or making her hostage; him advancing upon me after I draw with intention of trying to take my gun, etc
Yeah, me, too. I would have thought that murdering someone who has done nothing except yell at you and then claiming they were out to lynch you except essentially you did the lynching would have struck a thoughtful person as perversely racist.
This poor guy murdered a kid in his yard. It takes a brave man to kill an unarmed person who hasn't exibited any physical violence, just verbal insults.
No murder occurred. The only reason they were at the man's home was to give the son a severe beating. The insults were just part of the threats and promises to commit the beating, which is a felony. The only reason they didn't jump White and his son to commence the beating is, because White had the gun.
See post #247
I saw it. I was hoping Santa'd drop off a couple cases of vowels under your tree.
The kid Mr. White shot went to school with Mr. White's son. The young men knew each other by name and by face and had spoken on the phone. Mr. White could have called the police and identified those who were arguing with his son and let the police deal with it. Instead Mr. White chose to handle things his own way which culminated in his firing a pistol into an unarmed young man's face from point-blank range. Mr. White screwed up royally here.
And the law says that John White is not a murderer. He stood trial and was not convicted of murder.
I fail to understand why so many on this thread are wrapped up in outrage over making fun of a convicted felon after he did so much damage to that family. It's just so completely like a liberal would act, outraged not at a crime, but at the reaction to it. It's not a crime to make fun of someone who takes a life dear to you, unlawfully. It's a damn honor.
Yeah, I know how these street things go. They had spoken on the phone, because the Cicciaro punk called him in an attempt to call him out. The fact that the father focused on him, means he led the mob. The 4-5 punks were out to severely beat White's kid. Had the cops showed first, they would have noticed the squad, not showed and caught the kid "in some alley". Had the squad showed with White in the house, the same would have happened. The cops wouldn't do a damn thing, except tell them to move along, or maybe bust them for being drunk.
"Instead Mr. White chose to handle things his own way which culminated in his firing a pistol into an unarmed young man's face from point-blank range. Mr. White screwed up royally here."
Mr White chose to defend his family right then and there. I think he had some idea what street punks are about, but had very little skill at dealing with them. He was not a fighter, 54 and it's reasonable that he should have an effective tool like the gun to handle the matter. Considering the gun came out of storage for the occasion and the handling of it during the confrontation, I think he was inept handling it. I don't think he ever gave it's use much consideration, other than to keep it handy.
Given that Mr White was inept at handling these things, which most folks are, I do not see recklessness. Mr White said he told his wife to call the cops before he ran out of the house. I gave the reasons she didn't above on the thread. She was terrified and froze, because of the hell Cicciaro and his punk gang of thugs brought down upon the family.
This started at the drinking party. White's kid had been asked to leave by others. The punks had to ask why White's kid was asked to leave. Had the Cicciaro punk caught White's kid at the party, he would have beaten him there with the help of the rest of the punk's gang. The punks used the phone in an attempt to lure the victim out. That didn't work, so they showed at his home.
Cicciaro and the punks drew first blood and weren't going to give up. They forced the father into a situation he was unable to cope with and handle. It was both unfair and vicious of the punks to do that. White didn't just wake up one day at night and decide he wanted to dig out a gun and confront someone. He didn't even have the gun handy, it was packed and hidden away.
As far as I'm concerned, Cicciaro, the punks with him and the jackals that raised him are 100% responsible for what happened here. Classless clymers have neither the right, nor any justification whatsoever to test folks on the spur of the moment, in the middle of the night, with such viciousness. As I said above, if my kid did this and got their ass shot, I'd side with my kid's victim.
No one has the right to second guess incompetents with a test of skill when they're forced into a nightmare like the punks dragged White into. Charging recklessness on White's part is BS! All the recklessness was committed by the punks, the DA and their jackel backers, and it was voluntary. The fact that White made mistakes and scewed up is irrelevant, because the game he was forced into was fundamentally unfair and above his head.
Oh, so he's not a murderer any more?
I will try to explain this as clearly as I can in the most elemental means available, "Thinker."
A decent father who loses a son does not see any levity in the legal process. He does not spout one liners. His joke doesn't make fun of the man who took his son's life - it makes a mockery of the entire situation.
What kind of a person, when his son is dead, cracks jokes?
Answer: A monster.
Hell, I consider this guy a hero!
Juror in Long Island Killing Says He Was Pressured Into a Guilty Verdict
wow!
Thanks for the update.
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