====================================================================== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. ======================================================================
(The only worthwhile he did as governor.) NY Times December 23, 2010 Sentence Commuted in Racially Charged Killing By COREY KILGANNON Gov. David A. Paterson announced on Thursday that he had commuted the prison sentence of a black man who fatally shot an unarmed white teenager outside the man’s house in August 2006, weighing in on a case where the issue of race on Long Island became as much fodder for debate as the man’s innocence or guilt. The trial of the man, John H. White, had racial overtones, as defense lawyers suggested that the tension associated with the Deep South in the civil rights era was alive in 2006, in a New York suburb with good schools, high property values and privileged children. Mr. White, 57, was convicted of manslaughter for shooting Daniel Cicciaro, 17, point-blank in the face after Daniel and several friends had left a party and showed up late at night at Mr. White’s house in Miller Place, a predominantly white hamlet in Suffolk County. The white teenagers had arrived to challenge Mr. White’s son Aaron, then 19, to a fight. The white teenagers used threats, profanities and racial epithets outside the house. Mr. White, who had been asleep, grabbed a loaded Beretta pistol he kept in his garage. In a statement, Mr. Paterson, who leaves office next week, said, “My decision today may be an affront to some and a joy to others, but my objective is only to seek to ameliorate the profound suffering that occurred as a result of this tragic event.” Mr. White, reached by phone at his home on Thursday night and asked for his reaction to the commutation, said, “I’m blessed and highly favored, brother.” “I thank the Lord God most of all — he’s my savior,” he added. “Every day I thank my savior I am alive.” Asked about the governor’s decision, he said, “I won’t get into all that; I’ll just say that Jesus is the reason we celebrate Christmas.” Mr. White, who had served five months at an upstate New York prison for the killing, was convicted of second-degree manslaughter and of criminal possession of a weapon. He had remained free on bail during an appeal, but after the appeal was rejected, a judge gave him a sentence of 20 months to 4 years in prison, a spokeswoman for the State Division of Parole said. The maximum sentence, under legal guidelines, would have been between 4 and 11 years. In July, Mr. White began serving his sentence at the Mount McGregor Correctional Facility, in Saratoga County. He would have been eligible for parole roughly two months after his first hearing date, next October. Frederick K. Brewington, a defense lawyer who represented Mr. White during the trial, said a group of advocates for Mr. White made an application to Mr. Paterson for a pardon, “outlining the reasons, what the particulars were and the value to the community.” He added that supporters of Mr. White had organized a letter-writing campaign to urge the governor to consider Mr. White’s case. A commutation lessens the severity of the punishment. A pardon excuses or forgives the offense itself. At the trial, Mr. White testified that his son woke him from a deep sleep the night of the shooting, yelling that “some kids are coming here to kill me.” Mr. White said he considered the angry teenagers a “lynch mob.” Mr. White said their racist language recalled the hatred he saw as a child visiting the segregated Deep South and stories of his grandfather’s being chased out of Alabama in the 1920s by the Ku Klux Klan. He testified that his grandfather taught him how to shoot and bequeathed him the pistol he used. But Mr. White said the shooting happened accidentally after he began turning to retreat and Daniel lunged at the gun. Thomas Spota, the Suffolk County district attorney, said in a statement, “I strongly believe the governor should have had the decency and the compassion to at least contact the victim’s family to allow them to be heard before commuting the defendant’s sentence.” Reached at his auto body shop in Port Jefferson Station, the teenager’s father, Daniel Cicciaro, reacted with annoyance when a reporter identified himself. “Yeah, what do you need? An oil change?” he said. “We got nothing to say about it.” Mr. Brewington said that Mr. White was released from prison at 8 a.m. on Thursday, and that the White family was happy with the decision. “They’re all very thankful, particularly at this time of year for the blessings bestowed upon them and the thoughtful approach by the governor’s office,” Mr. Brewington said. Mr. Paterson has granted nine pardons, three commutations and one clemency, and plans to make more pardons in immigration cases before leaving office on Dec. 31, officials in his office said Thursday. The governor began a special clemency process in the spring intended to help permanent legal residents who were at risk of deportation because of long-ago or minor convictions. This month, he pardoned six of those immigrants, including a financial administrator at the City University of New York. In the case of Mr. White, his lawyer, Mr. Brewington, acknowledged that race had played a big role in the trial, but he cautioned against viewing the commutation as racially based, especially because Mr. Paterson is black. “He reviewed this matter as he reviews any other matter,” he said. “People have to be careful not to fan the flames of racism. If the governor happened to be white and he commuted the sentence of a white person, would that be an issue?” Angela Macropoulos contributed reporting. ________________________________________________ Send list submissions to: [email protected] Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
