Posted on 10/10/2002 10:08:53 PM PDT by kattracks
Editorial note: Readers may find some material in this article objectionable.)
(CNSNews.com) - Prosecutors in Wichita, Kan. are seeking the death penalty for two African-American brothers accused of murdering five white people and wounding a sixth in a shooting spree that has become known locally as the "Wichita Massacre" and the "Wichita Horror."
Some residents in the area claim the murders would have been prosecuted as hate crimes had the skin color of the alleged gunmen and their victims been reversed. However, Sedgwick County, Kansas District Attorney Nola Foulston reportedly said she would not charge the suspects with committing hate crimes because she believes the murders were motivated by robbery and not racial hatred.
Foulston noted that the state of Kansas does not have a hate crime statute. She refused interview requests from CNSNews.com for more comment on the story.
A spokesman for Foulston said the district attorney is under a gag order not to talk about the case until it's over. Attorneys Val Wachtel and Jay Greeno representing the defendants, Jonathan and Reginald Carr, confirmed they were also under a gag order.
A spokesperson for Sedgwick County District Judge Paul Clark, who is the presiding judge in the case, told CNSNews.com that the gag order was imposed during the jury selection and other pre-trial activity and was not in effect now.
Meanwhile, trial testimony continued Thursday.
The Carr brothers have been charged with 113 counts of murder, robbery, rape and other crimes. The two are accused of unleashing a crime spree that began Dec. 7, 2000 when they allegedly kidnapped a 23-year old man from a Wichita convenience store and robbed him.
Several days later, according to prosecutors, the Carrs shot a female outside her Wichita home. She died several days later from her injuries.
On Dec.14, the Carrs allegedly broke into the home of three young men who were hosting two female guests. Later that night, prosecutors said the Carrs drove the five people to a deserted soccer field, forced them to kneel in the snow and shot each of them in the back of the head.
Prosecutors said the brothers then drove a truck over the four dead bodies.
The surviving female, whose name is not being released, testified Wednesday that she ran naked for over a mile in freezing temperatures to the nearest house to get help. She also testified that a plastic hair clip deflected the bullet and prevented it from entering her skull.
She identified both Jonathan and Reginald Carr as the armed intruders who attacked her.
Her four friends who died were identified as Jason Befort, a local high school teacher; Brad Heyka, a director of finance with a local financial services company; Heather Muller, a local preschool teacher; and Aaron Sandler, a former financial analyst who had been studying to become a priest.
The trial is expected to last four to six weeks. It has sparked debate within the Wichita citizenry.
"If this had been two white males accused of killing four black individuals, the media would be on a feeding frenzy and every satellite news organization would be in Wichita doing live reports," said Trent Hungate of Wichita in a recent letter to the Wichita Eagle newspaper.
The Wichita Eagle itself, in its Thursday editorial, wrote "reliving horrible crime is hard for the community."
"The defendants are being fairly treated by the court and aggressively defended by their lawyers. We must presume their innocence until they are proved guilty. They are getting their day in court. So are the victims," the paper stated.
"The randomness of the attacks was especially chilling. It could have been anyone. But we go on with our work, hold our loved ones a little closer, and face down our fears as best we can. The survivors are showing us how," the editorial concluded.
E-mail a news tip to Jim Burns.
Send a Letter to the Editor about this article.
and besides......
[Foulston noted that] the state of Kansas does not have a hate crime statute.
Two black recidivist sociopaths recently attacked some gays with baseball bats in their supposed West Hollywood gay paradise.
Charge: Burglary.
As if LA robbers regularly use bats in their trade. De be gone fut dees faggots up!
Not that the perpatrator of any violent crime should be mindscanned as a hate criminal, where all and any such action is, by its very violent nature, a hate crime.
But every PC thinkin' honky know that thee groups be legally exempt from racist acts. It be fact 'o nature.
Ya' know wah' I'm sayin"?
Dear Sirs,
Your refusal to give national coverage to the trial of Jonathan and Reginald Carr currently in Wichita is shameful. This is yet another example of the media's double standards when it come to crimes committed by minorities.
In case you are not familiar with this story, these men are on trial for 113 counts of rape, aremed robbery, burglary, assault, murder and attempted murder of 5 white victims over the course of a week. These men are accused of raping not only women, but men as well. They are accused of stripping their victims, lining them up on their knees in the snow, and executing them. They then drove a stolen pickup truck over four of the victims. Fortunately, one of the victims survived to tell her horrible tale.
WHY is this story given so little media attention?! I can take a guess.... The defendents are black, and the victims are white. And to classify ANY crime perpetrated by blacks as a hate crime would bring the anger of Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, and Louis Farrakan to your news desks.
Even FoxNews.com, a news organization I respect for not shying away from these types of stories, gives only a watered down version of the story (Link).
CNN's search page shows nothing on this story. MSNBC's website also has failed to report this story. A search of wire.ap.org reveals no story on Reginald Carr or his brother. This story is apparently not "news fit to print," because yet another search on the NY Times website shows another blatant example of the media ignoring the story of a horrible crime.
These men are accused of 113 felonies! Rape, assault, armed robbery, sodomy, attempted murder, and murder. These are two stone cold killers that have shown no remorse-- a terrible act committed in the heartland of America.
And none of you... not a damn one of you, have the courage or journalistic integrity to report this major story.
Shame on all of you for your cowardice!
Derrick Murray
Coppell, TX
"Wichita Massacre" murder trial "Ping List".
Please let me know if you want on (or off) this list.
This mornings trial summary thread is here:
Reginald Carr had $996, victims' credit card, watch [Wichita Massacre Day 4]
Carr brothers crime spree timeline:
Map and timeline (.gif 144k)
Yes, Mr. Editorial Board of the WEB. But it is statistically flabbergasting that 100% of the randomly chosen victims were of the same racial makeup. Just gobsmacking that such an anomaly could occur. fsf
Yes it does! Hours of rape and torture are a prima facie indication of hatred. The robbery part would have taken one trip to the ATM with everyone's card. This type of gratitous degradation of the victims was exactly why the Shepard case a few years ago was prosecuted as a hate crime.
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