Mar 20, 2008 7:21 pm US/Eastern
Possible Bias Crime Follows White Sentencing
African-American Family's Lawn, Right Next To Victim's Property, Destroyed By 4-Wheeler
PORT JEFFERSON, N.Y. (CBS) ―
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John White was convicted on March 19 of killing of a white teenager during a racially charged encounter outside his Garden City home.
CBS
Tensions are running high on Long Island following the sentencing of a black man who killed a white teenager. On Thursday the defendant tried to make bail, while police were investigating a new, possible bias crime.
The family of John White arrived for visiting hours on Thursday. Inside the Suffolk County Jail the Brooklyn Appellate Judge's bail agreement -- $200,000 cash -- was being detailed.
The sheriff and defense attorneys were processing papers for John White, who was hopeful to soon be back at home with his family to celebrate the Easter holiday.
The father of victim Daniel Cicciaro, Jr., continues to be outraged at what he calls Wednesday's lenient two-to-four year sentence.
"I am infuriated over it. There is nothing I can do," father Daniel Cicciaro said. "It's amazing how they can just brush aside the fact that he murdered my son."
At the Cicciaro's body shop in Port Jefferson Station where the slain son used to work, and within the community he lived, there was more anger at a legal system that could allow White to serve little or no jail time following a guilty verdict.
"With the stay and the bail, it just really destroys my faith in the legal system," neighbor Eddie Ferraro said.
Wednesday's sentencing may have reignited racial tensions. Overnight someone in a four-wheeler appeared to have driven over the lawn, smashing a light pole and more on the property next door to the Cicciaros.
"Because the family's African American?" Suffolk County Police Bias Squad Det. Sgt. Robert Reecks asked. "The family is the only African-American family on the block."
The Cicciaros thought the act of violence might have been directed at them. Police protection moved in and several miles away at the home of the Whites. In the meantime Cicciaro said his volatile remarks Wednesday about shooting Aaron White were misrepresented:
"Very simple," he said. "It wasn't a threat."
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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