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."
Bad situation for all.
Cicciaro was a drunken punk with a gang of other drunken punks who came looking for trouble in the form of another punk who they’s already kicked out of their party.
However, they were unarmed.
White, over-reacted by introducing firearms into a situation that probably would have resulted in a just a fist fight and at the worst a few emergency room stitches and ice packs.
White further proved to be a jerk by making claims of a KKK lynch mob and injecting the (way overused) race card into the mix as his defense.
In this case, the judge probably made the best verdict he could under the circumstances.
When white men chase after a black man involving rape/sexual ‘threat’ towards a white girl, I’d say the ‘race card’ has already inserted itself into the situation.
Does that mean Mr. White should have allowed his attorney to play that up? maybe not.
But most people I know of get out of the way when someone comes out with a gun, not continue on with threats.
So, Mr. White is still on his property and is confronted with an amateur lynch mob going after his son for a ‘rape threat.’ I’m not saying he SHOULD have gone out but only that it was incredibly Darwin Award-worthy for the teens to stick around when a homeowner comes out armed.
All White was doing was protecting his family.
I tend to agree, but I do not know enough about the circumstances that led him to pull the trigger. A man has a right to defned his family, especially on his own property. I just do not know the degree of the threat.
So would I. No mercy for hools.
That explains the 'racism' defense. There is a disturbing trend among the minority victim community to alledge racism or racial slurs whenever they themselves are charged with a crime, such as murder, manslaughter, etc. It is like a 'get out of jail free' card. The Jena 6 tried to bring up a months old unrelated 'noose' incident. This guy, who may have been justified, brings up the KKK and racist events that happened before he was born. I would like to think that this defense argument is jumping the shark.
{snip}
The trial’s racial overtones were obvious from the start, suggesting that the tension associated with the Deep South was alive in a New York suburb with good schools, high property values and privileged children.
The sick NY media and their obsession with their perception of racism.
I feel for Mr. White. His defense team led him down a losing path, the Race Card path, but, this was New York, where that crap is played up.
The same people who elected Hillary, also elected a state government that decided to ignore his rights.
Obviously, this did not happen in Texas, hehehehehe.
Yes, but I’m surprised to find them posting here. I can’t believe how many limitations they put on his right to defend his home, and how many concessions they make for the lynch mob.
Yes, the right to remain silent, it can be handy.
IMO,
Doorstep? = "Not Guilty"
End of the driveway? = "Guilty"
Article isn't the best in clarity...
Yep - he forgot the basic rule for weapons discharge.
“I feared for my life.”
It’s the only answer one should ever disclose.
Well, that's what the leftists keep saying...
The article said the kid was lunging at him trying to grab the gun. It makes total sense to me how the kid was shot in the face.
This is a time the shooter would have benefited from living in Texas rather than New York. It looks like he ran afoul of a “duty to retreat” law instead of benefiting from “castle doctrine.”
The way I see it the kid made a move to disarm him. If he hadn’t shot him the kid had proved that the shotgun was an empty threat and he and his friends conceivably could have disarmed the man. Then the shooter had a problem.
The other thing that would bother me is if he hadn’t confronted them then he becomes a prisoner in his own house with who knows how much intimidation to follow.
If he hadn’t confronted them then he might as well have packed up and moved to a “safe” neighborhood. I think this was a bad decision. The paternalistic state promises to protect and leaves you out there on your own only to show up and arrest you when you do protect yourself.
This was a bad call. I’d like to see this guy get off but chances are he is going to have a lot of time to think about it.
Drunken kids have no right to trespass on anybody’s property period
The governor should grant clemency.
Wonder what the racial make-up of the jury was.
Not knowing all the details of this and after reading what you just said, I am in agreement with you.
It would have been a different situation altogether had he waited in the house, called the police and then they tried to enter the house. He would then be justified in shooting.
To go out and confront them armed, he put himself and his family in a very dangerous situation. Which now we see the results of.
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