Hundreds turn out for ‘Free John White’ rally

Hundreds turn out for ‘Free John White’ rally RIVERHEAD, Long Island, N.Y. (FinalCall.com) - Chanting “Free John White!” “Free John White!” hundreds of demonstrators, Black, White and Latino, answered a call from the Rev. Al Sharpton and the National Action Network to show up in front of the Suffolk County courthouse to protest the guilty verdict against John White, 54, of Miller Place, Long Island.

Mr. White faces a maximum of 15 years in jail after being convicted of manslaughter in the second-degree. His sentencing is scheduled for Feb. 21. The father and husband was convicted on Dec. 22 in the “accidental” shooting death of Daniel Cicciaro. He remains free on $100,000 bail; and his defense team is preparing an appeal.

“We come today as one community, because if they are allowed to invade and violate the property of one of us, then they will be allowed to invade and trespass on the property belonging to any of us,” Rev. Sharpton told the Jan. 5 gathering.

Mr. White, a construction foreman, has maintained that the shooting was unintentional, saying the 17-year-old lunged for the handgun, and it went off.

During the three-week trial, Mr. White’s lawyers maintained he felt threatened by five White teens who invaded his property after 11 p.m. on a week night, threatening to harm his son, Aaron, and rape his wife, Sonia. The lawyers told the jury that the drunken youths were reminiscent of southern lynch mobs.

Rev. Sharpton noted that police only focused on the shooting, ignoring the culpability of the “drunken White teens,” who according to testimony used racial epithets. “What amazes me,” said the longtime activist, “is how you start an investigation halfway after the events of the evening was over.” Suffolk County law enforcement officials did not start their investigation at the moment the teens “decided to trespass and menace the White family,” he said.