Morris Dees is not singling out Mississippi in his organization's efforts to seek justice for an alleged hate murder of James Craig Anderson because he was black.
Speaking to reporters on Monday at the Hinds County Courthouse, Dees, chief trial counsel with the Southern Poverty Law Center, said his organization has filed similar lawsuits in Long Island, N.Y., and Linden, Texas. In 2008, a group of teenagers in Long Island, N.Y., beat Ecuadorian immigrant Marcelo Lucero, and one teen, Jeffery Convoy, stabbed him to death. A judge sentenced Convoy to 25 years in prison for manslaughter as a hate crime, but acquitted him of the hate-crime charge for murder.
In Texas, the organization helped Billy Ray Johnson, a disabled black man, receive $9 million in damages after four white men beat him in 2003.
"I think in Mississippi, this isn't something that happens every day," Dees said. "Obviously there is systemic racism built into this state. We want to make sure that you know we aren't picking on Mississippi. ... But we want to make sure the whole story gets out."
Jackson attorney Winston Thompson III of the Cochran Law Firm and the Southern Poverty Law Center, based in Montgomery, Ala., filed a wrongful death suit on behalf of Anderson's family, against Deryl Dedmon, John Aaron Rice, Sarah Graves, Shelbie Richards, William Kirk Montgomery and Dylan Butler, all of whom are 18 or 19. One 17-year-old defendant is included as well. The lawsuit states that on June 26 the group of teens took turns beating Anderson in the parking lot of the Metro Inn hotel in Jackson.
Thompson said the family is still grieving and decided that they were not ready for public interviews on Monday.
The lawsuit accuses the white teenagers of intentionally setting out June 26 in two vehicles to "go f--k with some n----rs" in Jackson. Anderson was in the Metro Inn motel parking lot in Jackson when he was first beaten. During the attack, one of his attackers shouted, "White power!" according to the lawsuit.
Defense attorneys claim that the teens came to Jackson with the intention of buying alcohol and that Rice was trying to help Anderson who was locked out of his car. When Dedmon arrived, they claim that's when an altercation took place.
The family is seeking to recover "all damages arising of out the personal injuries sustained by Anderson," including but not limited to funeral costs, loss of career, future earnings, cash value for the life of the decedent, and pain and suffering.
In the Hinds County District Attorney's criminal prosecution, Hinds County Judge Houston Patton rescheduled Dedmon's pre-trial hearing for Sept. 26. Only two of the teens face charges in the county's prosecution.
"On the civil side, all we can get is money damages. On the criminal side, we are looking at potential incarceration," Thompson said.
Thompson added that the investigation is ongoing and could not answer questions about why Anderson was the parking lot of the Metro Inn at 5 a.m. June 26. He also could not say if the teens had a prior history of violence against blacks.
The lawsuit, filed today, accuses all the teens of battery. It accuses five of them of negligence by failing to intervene, alert law enforcement, provide medical aid or transport Anderson after the beating.
"In this complaint, it's important to note that the legal liability and responsibility of those involved in this doesn't mean that they even had to have gotten out of their vehicle," Dees said. "They had the duty once they saw what was taking place to call the police, to get out and aid Mr. Anderson or prevent him from staggering around helplessly after he had been beaten."
Dedmon's attorney, Lee Agnew, and Rice's attorney, Samuel Martin, were not immediately available to comment on this story.
Previous Commentsshow
What's this?More like this story
More stories by this author
Support our reporting -- Follow the MFP.
Comments
Use the comment form below to begin a discussion about this content.