Posted on 02/19/2002 7:47:01 PM PST by unamused
White Man Convicted of Intimidation in Attack on Black State Trooper; Cleared of Felony Charge
Published: Feb 19, 2002
HOWELL, Mich. (AP) - A white man accused of beating a black state trooper for dancing with a white woman last year was convicted Tuesday of ethnic intimidation and misdemeanor assault. But the all-white jury acquitted Jasen Barker of assault with intent to do great bodily harm, a felony carrying a maximum 10-year sentence. The lesser offense of aggravated assault and the ethnic intimidation conviction both carry possible two-year prison sentences. "Everyone is glad there is a resolution to this case," said David Morse, prosecutor in the overwhelmingly white Livingston County. "Obviously, it was pretty clear it was racially motivated." "It's not like we won the lottery," defense attorney Carol Lathrop-Roberts said. "But (the verdict) is a good thing." It was the second jury trial in the April 20, 2001, attack on off-duty Trooper Arthur Williams III, 33. Authorities said Jasen Barker and cousin Travis Sales became angry at seeing a black man dancing with Paulina Muzzin, a former county assistant prosecutor, at a bar in Brighton, about 50 miles west of Detroit. The cousins shouted racial slurs, punched Williams and smashed his face with a bottle, authorities said. Williams underwent surgery to rebuild an eye socket. In November, Barker, now 23, and Sales, now 22, were tried on ethnic intimidation and assault charges, but the jury could not agree on a verdict. Sales pleaded no contest Feb. 6 to assault with a dangerous weapon and ethnic intimidation. He faces up to four years in prison when he is sentenced March 1. Barker's sentencing is set for March 25. Livingston County developed a reputation for racism because of its overwhelmingly white makeup, as well as the activities of the late Ku Klux Klan grand dragon Robert Miles. His farm near Howell was a hot house for white supremacist activity in the 1970s and 1980s. Miles was convicted of conspiring to burn school buses during an integration fight in Pontiac and in the tarring and feathering of a high school principal. Miles died in 1992. According to the 2000 census, there were only 722 blacks in the rapidly growing county of 156,951.
(Ummm...whadda' ya' mean Detroit?!?!?...ooops!!!)
That's what I always say. If there a bunch
of whites in one place, they must be racists.
But a bunch of blacks in one place is a huddled mass.
You can't just punish 'em for the violence, you have to punish 'em for thinking wrong too...that's where the ethinic intimidation comes in. It's a euphemism for "you have failed to intellectually bow to your betters"...well, you get the picture...
Shall we apply this standard in a uniform fashion..?
That's only because I work 7 months a year for the government, for free. If I would only work a few more months a year for free, everybody could acheive equality....
Slavery ain't over...it's just now you get a 9 digit number...
This Confederate flag waving reb would be competing with you for the next dance....
That's okay us Michiganders know all about how things work down there in Arkansas we just put up with 8 years of the Clintons!
Jeez...another redneck incident up north. These can't possibly be northerners, I mean, their forefathers fought and died to free the slaves.....
Must just be a buncha' southern single-wide, unemployed, trailer park MF'ers causing trouble on their way up to their summer cottages in Canada...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.