Protesters Clash over Dragging Death

[kjackson227]

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/07/21/national/main5176952.shtml

[kjackson227]

1. As many problems as we have in this country, it's really sad...

that this stuff is still going on. ~SIGH~

[onestepforward]

3. I totally agree.

I'm stumped at what would make these types of hate crimes subside. It is heartbreaking to see one group of Americans fighting with another group of Americans over skin color... in 2009. What a horrible crime.

[sonias]

2. I didn't know that charges were dismissed against the men

That's not good. I can see where this is going to be a powder keg.

Prosecutors in the McClelland case initially charged two of McClelland's friends, Shannon Finley and Charles Crostley, with murdering him by running him over in Finley's pickup. They estimated that McClelland's body was dragged more than 70 feet beneath their vehicle. But a special prosecutor dismissed the charges last month, citing a lack of evidence, after a truck driver came forward and said he might have accidentally run over McClelland.

Lack of evidence? This is a completely botched case. How can they not know how McClelland died? Was he dragged or not? Certainly there would have to be some evidence that either the trucker's vehicle or the two men's truck was involved in the death. Can't the prosecutors even determine that?

Sonia

[kjackson227]

4. I didn't know the charges were dismissed either. This "ish" doesn't make sense. Three friends...

are supposedly hanging out, two of the friends end up going back to the truck to leave, but it never occurs to them that the other friend is MIA??? Then on top of that, they didn't feel something dragging under the truck??? I'm beginning to see a pattern. In addition to this incident, there was another one where a black guy and his white girl friend entered a small town bar, and the black guy was seriously beaten up. I'm not sure what happened with this case, either.

[WolverineDG]

7. there was a big post in GD about this

(full of the usual anti-Texas bullshit of course) but also had a couple of links. The men were friends, they had been drinking, McClelland walked off after arguing about who was in better shape to drive. If so, then the death might have been accidental (as opposed to intentional), so a murder charge might not stand up, but a manslaughter charge should have.

To get murder, you've got to prove they intentionally ran the man over.

dg

[Horse with no Name]

19. My neck of the woods. Bad bad deal.

Crostley and Finley fled jurisdiction initially and destroyed evidence. Doesn't sound accidental to me.

>>>snip
Within a few days, however, suspicions turned toward two white friends who had picked up McClelland in their truck a few hours before he was found dead early on Sept. 16. Despite signs that the truck had been washed, authorities discovered blood and other physical evidence on the undercarriage and arrested the two men, both with long criminal histories, for murder.

>>>>snip
But McClelland's relatives and Paris civil rights leaders are less certain. Citing the violence done to McClelland's body and reports that one of the alleged assailants, Shannon Finley, had white supremacist ties, they are demanding that Paris authorities investigate the case as a possible hate crime akin to the infamous 1998 lynching of James Byrd Jr., in Jasper, Texas, 250 miles south of here.

>>>>snip
But McClelland's relatives say they have heard that Finley fell in with white supremacists while in prison and that he had grown upset over Brandon's overtures to a white girl--factors they say the police ought to investigate.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-pariskilling,0,977683.story

[sonias]

22. Thanks for the story link

That adds a lot of information missing from the recent batch of stories. None of the new ones for example mention Finley's potential ties to white supremacist groups. And it mentions the previous "accidental" killing that Finley was involved in. McClelland even got a couple of years for perjuring himself to help Finely on that one.

So this story says they found blood and other evidence in the undercarriage of the truck. How in the hell do they not know if it was McClelland's blood?

I still say this investigation was botched either by incompetence or on purpose.


Sonia

[Aragorn]

5. what a mess

As skeptical as I am about this it is possible the 2 guys did not do this. Either way, the multiple hate groups descending on Paris to argue about it shows how bad "racism" is in East Texas.

I want to add my personal campaign to stop referring to people of various skin colors as belonging to different races. Only aliens do not belong to the human race. Prejudice is what it is - no need to minimize that term by calling it anything less.

As a white male in East Texas I hear blatant prejudicial remarks from some whites, and have also been criticized and persecuted for not being prejudiced. I heard the term n*****-lover from an East Texas cop for example. I have even heard about doctors who won't touch a black person - too many times to not believe it.

[onestepforward]

6. Hang in there.

It is a short drive north from Houston when you start getting into East Texas and I know what you are talking about. I saw my first (and hopefully last) KKK members at a gas station in that area and was totally stunned to my core. It can really get you down when you are around these types of folks.

[ceile]

8. Seems Finley has a habit of killing his friends (link)

http://www.theparisnews.com/story.lasso?wcd=14545
From July 2004
"Sneed died the night of Aug. 2, 2003, from three shots to the head from his own gun.

Finley said he shot Sneed by mistake while trying to shoot someone who had walked up to their vehicle in the dark and pointed a gun at them."

[sonias]

9. That is really weird

Are you sure it's the same guy? Probably not a lot of guys named Shannon Finley in East Texas right?

:wow:


Sonia

[ceile]

10. Someone who posted in the comments section

of the article made reference to it, so I looked it up. Quite a coincedence if it's not the same person....

"Shannon Finley is a serial killer pure and simple. Look at the sick basterd. Look at the previous case where he claims to accidentally shot a passenger in the head. He is getting bolder with the incompetence of the Texas legal system."

[sonias]

11. I would agree with you

Not a likely coincidence that this guy had just gotten out of prison, if he served the 4 year term, and then ends up mixed up in another incident with a "fried" who died. Why didn't the prosecutor pick up on that?

Sonia

[Horse with no Name]

20. Here you go

More back story:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-pariskilling,0,977683.story
Although the victim in Finley's 2003 manslaughter case was white, race played a role in the incident. Finley told police he was sitting in a pickup with his friend in a park when two gun-wielding black men supposedly walked up alongside and tried to rob them. Finley said he grabbed his friend's handgun and fired at the robbers, but instead shot his friend.

An autopsy determined that the victim suffered three gunshot wounds to the head, but the district attorney at the time accepted Finley's contention that the shooting was an accident and offered him a plea bargain on a reduced manslaughter charge. Finley served three years of a 4-year prison sentence. The alleged robbers were never found.

That manslaughter case also tied Finley and McClelland closely together. McClelland furnished a false alibi for Finley, testifying before a grand jury that Finley was with him at the time the shooting occurred. That lie under oath earned McClelland a conviction for aggravated perjury, for which he served two years in prison.

[Horse with no Name]

21. IF you have a strong stomach

you can read all about the whole incident here
http://www.topix.com/forum/city/paris-tx

[sonias]

12. Signs of the Times in Paris - Texas Observer

http://www.texasobserver.org/contrarian/comments/signs-of-the-times-in-paris">Texas Observer blog The Contrarian by Dave Mann 7/22/09
Signs of the Times in Paris
The Ku Klux Klan and the New Black Panther Party staged rival protests yesterday in Paris, Texas.

Ah, Paris.

(snip)
The Panthers bused in several hundred protesters to voice their anger over prosecutors' decision to drop charges in this case. The Klan showed up for a counter-protest.

Rock Banks, who says he's the grand titan of the East Texas Ku Klux Klan, said his group met last week to discuss the event but decided not to hold a major rally because it would lead to more protests.

'If we showed up in force, with all of our robes on, they'd be back here in a month,' he said.

Rock Banks is a Texas sized racist asshole who has absolutely no shame showing off his white supremacist skin. Proud member of the grand hate "morans" of the world club. :grr: :puke:


Sonia

[onestepforward]

13. One more hate crime

Once you get into the suburbs of Houston, east Texas is right there. This was on the news last night about a black ice cream truck driver:

http://www.khou.com/video/topstories-index.html?nvid=383781&shu=1

[sonias]

14. Damn it!

That is so sick. I hope they catch those racist bastards that beat him and give them the real taste of Texas law. :grr:

His boss even saw the guys high fiving each other.

Sonia

[onestepforward]

15. Good news... considering

The news tonight reported that 3 men have been arrested.

[sonias]

16. Yes! That is good news.

Those idiots need to be off the streets.

:applause:


Sonia

[onestepforward]

17. Well, the 3 men are apparently on the run.

http://www.khou.com/topstories/stories/khou090727_tnt_ice-cream-truck-driver-attacked.7f62a8ee.html

Hopefully they will be found soon.

[sonias]

18. I hope they are caught soon too

They better not be heading to Mexico - because they might get some of the same kind of beating they dealt out. Racists are not welcome in Mexico. I'm sure there will be wanted posters for them at the border too.


Sonia