Sharpton plans Riverhead march to protest verdict

BY PATRICK WHITTLE | patrick.whittle@newsday.com

December 28, 2007

The Rev. Al Sharpton says the John White trial shows Suffolk County is not a place of equal justice for blacks and whites, and he plans to make that opinion the focus of a march next week in Riverhead.

Sharpton already has spoken out against the manslaughter conviction of Miller Place resident John White, a black man, in the shooting death of Daniel Cicciaro Jr., who was white.

In an interview Thursday, Sharpton said there was "no prosecution at all for the menacing and trespassing of the white mob that went to his home."

Sharpton said the march will begin Jan. 5 at 12:30 p.m. outside the Riverhead court where White was convicted. He said it is too early to say how many people might attend or where the march will go. But the group's intention will be clear: to protest a prosecution Sharpton called "one-sided" and "a threat to the civil rights of Suffolk County."

"How do you not deal with the mob? This smacks of 1950s Mississippi, because the lack of prosecution says the mob is all right," Sharpton said.

Police and local officials have said Suffolk law enforcement is not racially biased.

Suffolk Police Commissioner Richard Dormer said if county police are asked to assist with crowd control, the "department would provide the resources to ensure the safety of everyone." A spokesman for District Attorney Thomas Spota declined to comment.

Sharpton also posed the question of what would have happened if a group of black youths had arrived at the home of a white man.

One of White's attorneys, Marie Michel of Port Jefferson, said if the situation had been reversed, the jury may not have been so forgiving of the victim.

"Had it been black young men from Bellport, they would have understood the concept that they don't belong there," Michel said.

Sharpton said the actions of two jurors, Francois Larche and Donna Marshak, "call into question the conviction." Larche said he felt improperly rushed to finish deliberations before the Christmas holiday, and Marshak told Newsday that Larche "wasn't the only holdout." Marshak said yesterday that she was "not convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that he was guilty."

Attempts to reach Larche were unsuccessful.

Another of White's attorneys, Frederick Brewington of Hempstead, said the defense is still determining whether race or the juror's actions will figure in their appeal.

White's sentencing is scheduled for Feb. 21. Brewington said an appeal should be filed before then. He declined to talk about specifics.

Sharpton said he hopes the march shines a light on what he believes is uneven .prosecution. "We intend to stay on this for fairness in the sentencing, fairness in the appeal," he said.