Howard Beach Ny

The star witness in the Howard Beach, N.Y., murder trial testified that he was part of a white gang that confronted three black men and chased one of them to his death. Robert Riley, 18, who is cooperating with prosecutors in exchange for leniency, said he and half a dozen other youths chased the three blacks in the Howard Beach section of Queens last Dec. 20, shouting racial slurs. Michael Griffith, 23, dashed onto the busy Belt Parkway and was struck by a car and killed.

The manslaughter convictions of three white men in the 1986 death of a black man in the Howard Beach area of Queens in New York City were upheld by the state Court of Appeals in Albany, N.Y. Jon Lester, Scott Kern and Jason Ladone also had been found guilty of assault and conspiracy in an attack on three black men. One victim, Michael Griffith, 23, was killed by an oncoming car when he ran onto a highway while trying to escape. The court decided that a U.S.

The manslaughter convictions of three white men in the 1986 death of a black man in the Howard Beach area of Queens in New York City were upheld by the state Court of Appeals in Albany, N.Y. Jon Lester, Scott Kern and Jason Ladone also had been found guilty of assault and conspiracy in an attack on three black men. One victim, Michael Griffith, 23, was killed by an oncoming car when he ran onto a highway while trying to escape. The court decided that a U.S.

A state appeals court has overturned the misdemeanor riot convictions and dismissed the grand jury indictments of three young white men convicted in the second Howard Beach racial attack trial. In its unanimous ruling, the five-judge panel of the state Appellate Division in Brooklyn found that the trial judge, Thomas Demakos, had made two important errors in charging the jury.

A special prosecutor charged Wednesday that a group of white teen-agers watched an auto kill a 23-year-old black man they had chased into traffic on a busy highway and then, "without missing a beat," went on to beat one of his companions, whose mercy pleas they ignored.

The events were ordinary and by all odds they should have been separate. But that Friday night, a week before Christmas, they converged with the force of a bomb, scattering racial shrapnel throughout New York City.

The jury weighing the fate of four white youths accused of chasing a black man to his death on a busy highway spent a sixth day of deliberations Tuesday honing in on the last seconds of his life. A court reporter read back testimony of the state's key witness, Robert Riley, who was the only person to place the four defendants at the heels of Michael Griffith, 23, when he dashed onto the highway Dec. 20 in Howard Beach, Queens. Griffith was struck by a passing car and killed.

A state appeals court Monday unanimously upheld the verdicts and sentences for three white youths convicted in the 1986 Howard Beach attack that left a black man dead and inflamed racial tensions in New York City. The five-judge panel noted that the evidence was sufficient to establish that Scott Kern, Jason Ladone and Jon Lester "relentlessly" chased Michael Griffith onto a busy highway where he was struck by a car and killed.

Four white youths were acquitted Friday of first-degree riot charges in the Howard Beach racial attack that left a black man dead, bringing to a close the second trial stemming from the incident. But three of the youths--William Bollander, 19, James Povinelli, 18, and Thomas Farino, 18--were convicted of second-degree riot, a misdemeanor that carries a penalty of up to one year in prison. The fourth defendant, John Saggese, 20, was cleared of all charges.

A teen-age girl told a jury Wednesday that she "got scared" as she sat in a car during a confrontation between three black men and white youths charged in a fatal racial attack that took place later the same night at Howard Beach. Claudia Calogero, 17, testified in state Supreme Court in Queens that she had been at a party with the five youths, who are on trial on charges involving the Dec. 20, 1986, attack that left a black man dead.

After apologizing in court and begging the judge for mercy, Jason Ladone, the last of three defendants convicted in the Howard Beach racial attack case, was sentenced Thursday to 5 to 15 years in prison. The sentence, although substantial, was lighter than those given to previous defendants, Jon Lester and Scott Kern, both 18.

The second of three teen-agers found guilty in the Howard Beach racial attack was sentenced Friday to six to 18 years in prison. State Supreme Court Justice Thomas Demakos imposed the sentence on Scott Kern, 19, for being among those who chased a black man to his death in traffic on a highway and assaulted his companions. The incident, in December, 1986, has sparked a debate over race relations in New York City as well as street demonstrations by groups of protesters charging racism.

An angry judge Friday sentenced the first of three teen-agers found guilty in the Howard Beach racial attack to the maximum of up to 30 years in prison for chasing a black man to his death in traffic on a busy highway and assaulting the man's companion with a baseball bat. Jon Lester, 18, sat defiantly as State Supreme Court Justice Thomas Demakos lectured him for showing no remorse and castigated New York's Howard Beach community for trying to ignore the attack's racial motivation.

The driver of the car that struck and killed a black man fleeing from white youths in Howard Beach has sued for libel two black lawyers who accused him of being part of the group, it was reported Friday. Dominic Blum asked for $20 million, charging that lawyers C. Vernon Mason and Alton Maddox had slandered and libeled him by claiming that he was one of the attackers that caused the death of 23-year-old Michael Griffith, the Daily News said, quoting court documents.

A white taxi driver was attacked in Harlem by as many as 10 black youths who punched and kicked him and shouted "This is for Howard Beach," police said Thursday. Antoni Dziatlowicz, 39, was treated for a "facial fracture and some abrasions" after the attack Wednesday night, said Susan Parker, a spokeswoman for Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center The attack came two days after three whites were convicted of manslaughter and assault in the Howard Beach case.