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Judi Lynn

(160,217 posts)
Thu Apr 9, 2015, 07:39 PM Apr 2015

2 women sentenced in slaying of Mississippi black man

Source: Associated Press

2 women sentenced in slaying of Mississippi black man
By JEFF AMY, Associated Press | April 9, 2015 | Updated: April 9, 2015 6:05pm


JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Two women who were part of a group that repeatedly searched Mississippi's capital city for black people to assault were sentenced Thursday to multiple years in federal prison.

U.S. District Judge Henry T. Wingate on Thursday sentenced Shelbie Brooke Richards of Pearl to eight years in prison on one count each of conspiracy to commit a hate crime and concealing the crime by lying to police.

In a separate hearing earlier Thursday, Wingate also sentenced Sarah Adelia Graves of Crystal Springs to five years in prison for one count of conspiracy to commit a hate crime.

Both women were riding in a truck that ran over James Craig Anderson in June 2011. Anderson died after being beaten and run over.



Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/crime/article/Woman-given-5-years-in-slaying-of-Mississippi-6189955.php



Graves and Richards receive max sentence

Anderson's sister calls his death 'modern-day lynching'

UPDATED 5:45 PM CDT Apr 09, 2015


[font size=1]
.
Sarah Graves and Shelbie Richards

Sarah Graves and Shelbie Richards on Dec. 12, 2014, plead guilty to one count each of conspiring to violate the federal
hate crime law.
[/font]
JACKSON, Miss. —Two white women that were convicted for their roles in the racially motivated killing of a black man in Jackson are now facing several years in prison.

Sarah Adelia Graves turned to James Craig Anderson's family Thursday, wiped tears from her eyes and said, "I'm sorry for your loss."
She was then sentenced by U.S. District Judge Henry Wingate to five years in prison.

Sentencing followed for Shelbie Brooke Richards, who along with graves, was part of a group who repeatedly searched Jackson for black people to attack, including Anderson, who was killed in 2011.

Graves pleaded guilty in December to conspiracy and faces up to five years in prison. Richards, who pleaded guilty in December to conspiracy and concealing the crime by lying to police, faces eight years in prison.

More:
http://www.wapt.com/news/central-mississippi/jackson/2-women-to-be-sentenced-for-roles-in-racial-killing/32274610
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24601

(3,940 posts)
8. You can ask Attorney General Holder why not tougher charges since these were federal cases brought
Thu Apr 9, 2015, 08:44 PM
Apr 2015

Department of Justice - not state cases. At first I wondered about the Judge, but the attached article reported that both women received the maximum allowed under their plea agreement with the Department of Justice. It also stated that six men received sentences from 4 to 50 years.

I don't see any information on why the administration made these plea agreements.



SummerSnow

(12,608 posts)
2. No justice here, not even 15 years between them both.
Thu Apr 9, 2015, 07:59 PM
Apr 2015

So this is what you get for hate crimes in Mississippi?

freshwest

(53,661 posts)
6. Deryl Dedmon, two others sentenced from 7-50 years in hate crime
Thu Apr 9, 2015, 08:42 PM
Apr 2015


By Therese Apel - February 12, 2015

The three pleaded guilty in March 2012 to one count of conspiracy and one count of committing a hate crime. U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves sentenced Dedmon to 50 years and five years to be served concurrently; John Aaron Rice to 18 ½ years and five years to be served concurrently; and Dylan Wade Butler to seven years and five years to be served concurrently. None of them are eligible for probation.

The judge said Dedmon's federal sentence will run concurrent with his state sentence.

The three are part of a group of 10 young white people who have no all pleaded guilty to coming to Jackson, which they called "Jafrica," to harass and assault African-Americans.


Part of the African-American judge's sentencing statement:

"Each defendant was escorted in by African-American U.S. Marshals, prosecuted by an African-American Assistant U.S. Attorney, from an office headed by an African-American U.S. Attorney, under an African-American Attorney General, and my final act will be to turn them over to the Bureau of Prisons, which is also led by an African American," he said.

Not to mention an African American President... More, including the statements of the families, is at the link:

http://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/2015/02/10/deryl-dedmon-two-others-to-be-sentenced-in-hate-crime-tuesday/23166397/

24601

(3,940 posts)
10. (see #8) Precisely to the contrary, you did not get this from Mississippi at all. The only ones you
Thu Apr 9, 2015, 09:01 PM
Apr 2015

can credit for these sentences is the US Department of Justice. The Judge gave each women the maximum sentence from the DOJ-negotiated plea bargain.

 

heaven05

(18,124 posts)
4. So, let me get this right
Thu Apr 9, 2015, 08:21 PM
Apr 2015

they can take part in a racist killing of a man with obvious racist animus involved in this murder and get a few years and that makes everything legally okay? Is this a correct analysis of this murder or am I just being too sensitive and not really understanding these two women? What am I missing about these two that makes me believe that they got the maximum prison time.

herding cats

(19,549 posts)
9. These two deserved more time than this. Much more time.
Thu Apr 9, 2015, 08:56 PM
Apr 2015


The victim, James Craig Anderson

James Craig Anderson was a 49-year-old African American who was murdered in a hate crime in Jackson, Mississippi on June 26, 2011, by 18-year old Deryl Dedmon, who drove his pick-up truck over the older man.[1] According to police, before being killed, Anderson was robbed and repeatedly beaten by a group of white teenagers, including Dedmon and his friends. The event was recorded on a security camera.

The FBI conducted a high-profile civil rights investigation of Anderson's murder; according to authorities, his death was intentional and racially motivated.[1][2] Anderson's family asked that the perpetrators be spared the death penalty. Dedmon was convicted and sentenced to two concurrent terms of life imprisonment for the murder.[3]

In 2012, Dedmon pleaded guilty to federal hate crime and conspiracy charges, as did John Rice, Dylan Butler,[4] Jonathan Gaskamp and William Montgomery. On Feb 10, 2015, U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves sentenced Deryl Dedmon to 50 years in prison; John Rice to 18 ½ years; and Dylan Butler to seven years for their roles in the hate crime.[5] Their federal sentences will run concurrently to the state ones and they are not eligible for parole.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_James_Craig_Anderson


 

Liberal_Stalwart71

(20,450 posts)
12. Mississippi has the death penalty. Had the murderers been black and the victim, white, they would
Thu Apr 9, 2015, 09:24 PM
Apr 2015

have been put to death.

No one can deny that racism exists.

 

Lurks Often

(5,455 posts)
14. We would have to know why Federal prosecutors offered the two of them a plea deal
Fri Apr 10, 2015, 07:44 AM
Apr 2015

Based on the article, the judge sentenced them to the maximum allowed for the charges they plead guilty to and would have sentenced them to more time if he was able.

I will speculate and say either the Federal prosecutors wanted the testimony of the two women to make sure they got a conviction of the three men involved OR they felt the case against the two women was potentially weak enough they might not be able to get a conviction.

I'll note the conspiracy referred to was conspiracy to commit a hate crime, not conspiracy to commit murder.

And yes, they deserved more time in jail.

 

cali

(114,904 posts)
15. grave miscarriage of justice indicative of institutional racism
Fri Apr 10, 2015, 08:14 AM
Apr 2015

the prison terms reflect that.

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