Posted by Orin Kerr:
Outrageous:
http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2005_05_08-2005_05_14.shtml#1116021715
[1]This sickening story about a criminal case pending in Linden, Texas
reads like it was from 1955, not 2005:
After a mentally disabled black man was found beaten,
unconscious, and shivering on a fire ant mound in 2003, four white
men charged in the crime could have faced 10 years in prison.
But folks in this poor, pine-locked Texas hamlet of 2,300 say
they knew better.
On Friday, the four young men accused of severely injuring
44-year-old Billy Ray Johnson during a late-night pasture party are
expected to be sentenced to probation or brief jail time after
juries rejected more serious charges and recommended suspended
sentences for two of them.
The victim survived the attack but can't walk without help or
speak clearly.
Some white residents believe it is a fair outcome for a few "good
boys" from prominent families with no previous legal trouble. But
other residents, blacks and whites, say the sentences are far from
fair and just another example of justice being tainted by
small-town politics, racism and a court system that favors whites.
References
1. http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/05/13/texas.beating.ap/index.html
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