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."
THIS is what the father chooses to say after the trial? I'm sure the females were thinking..."Hey, yo! He wazza good kid, ya know?" "He didn't deserve ta be killed because he didn't do nuthin!" "Deese kids was angles..totally innicent I tell ya..."
Mr.White: Next time, 1.) have wife call the police while you... 2.) Turn on the porch light so these little darlings can see you when you... 3.)Open the main door to your house, leaving the screen door closed. 4.) If they try and open the door, or try and break in through the back, all bets are off. The wife on the phone screaming that they tried to open the door or throw things at the window, or break in the back while you excercise your right to self- defense will be gold in the courtroom.
Uh, I think everyone is missing the most important piece of information in the whole article.
Mr white claims he shot the kid by accident. That is an ADMISSION OF GUILT! If he had said he was attacked and shot him in self defense, then we’d have something to argue about. But that’s not what happened. It was an accidental shooting. Someone died due to an accidental shooting. That is MANSLAUGHTER! He must do jail time for that.
There’s no ifs ands or buts about it.
-end of story
different ending today
White didn’t play by the rules!
I feel sorry for the guy.
I still want to know about those threats.
I want screenshots of those mspace threats dangit!
I need facts! Hell, for all anyone knows the idiot kid could have posted them himself and conned his buddy into saying that he actually did it.
Needs more dataz plz.
The MSM isn’t touching this aspect for some reason (well yes the MSM sucks at all things internet but that is beside the point).
If someone killed your son or daughter, I think you would have the right to say just about anything you want.
One of the important facts not mentioned here but included in a previously-linked article is that no one in the White family called the police before or after the shooting. When the kid was dead Mr. White called his lawyer.
None of that matters. He clearly said he shot the kid by accident.
Why can’t you figure out what that means? If he had felt he was being threatened, he would have fired INTENTIONALLY!
Get it?
I like looking at precipitating factors. You missed the point of my posts completely. I was referring to rape threats that were allegedly made by the son of the shooter (or his friend) against a young female. This occurred many months prior.
I’m on Mr White’s side on this one...you don’t threaten someone on their own property.
One of the ‘facts’ on some of the other threads was that the threatening phone call, warning that the ‘mob’ was on the way was made TWENTY MINUTES before they got there. The police certainly would have gotten there in 20 minutes.
Like I just posted...
IT DOESNT’ MATTER!
How can you claim “self defense” if you did it by accident?
Use your dam brain for a second.
This guy(mr white) is either extremely stupid(for claiming it was an accident) or extremely honest(I doubt it) or he figured he couldn’t win and chose to look guilty to a lesser charge by saying it was an accident. But whatever the case is, he sealed his fate the instant he claimed it was an accident.
And shoot an unarmed kid IN THE FACE ?
OMG. k.
(¬_¬)/¯ I am still going to find what that whole mspace thing was about though.
Thank you for posting that... Now I see the rationale for the charge and the verdict. Nothing like a splash of cold water to wake up the old noggin.
Goodnight, valleygirl. I’m wasting my time reasoning with one that doesn’t reason. I’m going to bed.
I don’t have a link for this but one thing I did read in a few of the articles I looked over is that he had called 911 numerous times in the past for minor incidents.
That may have hurt him in court for not making the call that night.
Night!
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