It started as a stupid prank, where an online message came to 17 year old Daniel Cicciaro’s attention that somebody was going to rape his girlfriend, Jenny Martin. He decided it was Aaron White, and went to White’s house to protect Jenny Martin’s honor. Ah, the hormonal machismo of youth.
So Daniel Cicciaro, following some heated telephone calls, and four friends then drove to Aaron White’s house. To do what remains unclear, but they were coming from a party, and all full of anger and chivalry. A bad combination.
They arrived at the White house, only a few minutes away. There were racial epithets, profanity and threats.
Aaron’s father, John, came outside. He had a .32 Berretta in his hands. According to John White, Cicciaro either tried to grab it or swat it away, and it went off. Daniel Cicciaro was shot in the face. He died. John White claimed he was trying to protect his family from a white “lynch mob.”
He was convicted yesterday of second degree manslaughter. The jury was deadlocked the day before, and received the typical coercive Allen charge, making sure they realized that despite their deadlock, they would be kept in that jury room all weekend, the same one before Christmas that the rest of us are enjoying, until they reached a verdict. Then a Christmas miracle occurred; they reached a compromise verdict. The jury found White guilty.
The prosecution argued that John White need only have locked the doors, called the police and the situation would have been diffused. By going outside with a gun in his hand, he created the explosive situation that ended a 17 year old’s life.
The defense, led by Fred Brewington, a long-time civil rights activist attorney, was a black-white affair, with the Cicciaro gang made out to be a lynch mob out of the old south, and John White a lone black man trying to protect his family.
There was much wrong this case, not the least of which was how it reflected certain ethnic and cultural divisions that many refuse to believe persists in suburbia. Indeed, it’s difficult to even write about this case because of the cultural stereotypes involved. And by ignoring them, the real dynamic of this case is lost.
Jenny Martin, the girlfriend of dead Daniel Cicciaro, told the New York Post that she wants John White to receive the maximum punishment possible, which is why we don’t leave sentencing decisions to stupid little girls. She can’t perceive how this was so very wrong all around.
In a perfect world, the prosecutor was quite correct that John White should never have walked out of his house that night with a gun to confront a group of young men. The situation had all the necessary elements for an explosion, and it should come as no surprise that the explosion happened.
Should John White have been convicted?
Penal Law § 125.15 Manslaughter in the second degree.
A person is guilty of manslaughter in the second degree when:
1. He recklessly causes the death of another person . . .
Manslaughter in the second degree is a class C felony.
Recklessly is defined as:
Penal Law § 15.05 Culpability; definitions of culpable mental states.
The following definitions are applicable to this chapter:
3. “Recklessly.” A person acts recklessly with respect to a result or
to a circumstance described by a statute defining an offense when he is
aware of and consciously disregards a substantial and unjustifiable risk
that such result will occur or that such circumstance exists. The risk
must be of such nature and degree that disregard thereof constitutes a
gross deviation from the standard of conduct that a reasonable person
would observe in the situation. A person who creates such a risk but is
unaware thereof solely by reason of voluntary intoxication also acts
recklessly with respect thereto.
So you have the complete picture, a Class C felony for a first offender is eligible for probation. For John White to be guilty, he must have possess the mental state where he was aware of and consciously disregarded a substantial and unjustifiable risk that his conduct would result in Daniel Cicciaro’s death.
That John White’s decision to go outside with a gun in his hand was a bad one is beyond question. But was it a gross deviation from the standard of conduct that a reasonable person would observe? To be guilty of the crime for which he was convicted, he must not merely have made a poor choice, but a choice that was so bad, so far from what a reasonable person would do, that the risk he created constituted a gross deviation.
But a young man ended up dead. And racial prejudice was inflamed. And a hardworking father of a boy who did nothing wrong is now convicted. And it’s all because of some stupid internet prank.
Can we see John White’s decision to protect his family from these young men who had no business, nor cause, to approach his house “like” a lynch mob as being either within, or at least relatively close, to a reasonable decision under the circumstances. I think so.
But I also see this as being at the confluence of where poor choices, stupidity, immaturity, racial hatred, denial of racial hatred and ego meet. This was a horrible case for all involved.
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If I were sitting on this jury Mr. White would have been charged with his only crime. (illegal posession of a firearm). I am a white (Canadian-American)male from Connecticut and the proud owner of many firearms with which my wife and I are both proficient.
I sure hope I do not end up in Mr. White’s position during my life but I can assure you that any person threatening my life or health or that of my loved ones they will be dispatched promptly regardless of the consequences.
Eh, I can see it both ways. I don’t think this is an egregious verdict (maybe it is because of the racial factor). If you step into a confrontation with an angry mob holding a loaded gun, I think there’s a substantial risk that the gun might go off.
I think the part about the explosiveness of the situation is in the post there, Gid. But that’s not what distinguishes manslaughter. As lawyers, we need to focus on the elements of the offense to determine the propriety of a conviction. Was John White’s coming out with a gun with an angry group on his front law sceaming threats to his son such a gross deviation from reasonable conduct that he is guilty of manslaughter? Remember, there are lesser offenses available, so the issue isn’t just crime or no crime.
Yeah, I know. I think the verdict is BS, but not because of the law.
I was just coming back to post this snippet:
Last week, Judge Barbara Kahn gave jurors the option of convicting White of the misdemeanor charge of second-degree reckless endangerment if they cannot convict him of second-degree manslaughter, a felony. Prosecutors had also asked Kahn to allow jurors to consider a felony charge of criminally negligent homicide, a request she denied.
What are the elements, in NY, of criminally negligent homicide and any idea why she would have refused to instruct on this LIO?
§ 125.10 Criminally negligent homicide.
A person is guilty of criminally negligent homicide when, with
criminal negligence, he causes the death of another person.
Criminally negligent homicide is a class E felony.
Why didn’t Kahn charge crim neg homicide? I can only guess, but I would assume that it was the culpability state of negligence as opposed to recklessness. It’s not a lesser included of manslaughter and was not the theory for which he was indicted.
That’s what I thought, but I wasn’t sure because I didn’t know the elements of the offense.
So, if it isn’t recklessness, what is it?
§ 120.20 Reckless endangerment in the second degree.
A person is guilty of reckless endangerment in the second degree when
he recklessly engages in conduct which creates a substantial risk of
serious physical injury to another person.
Reckless endangerment in the second degree is a class A misdemeanor.
Did he create recklessly create a substantial risk of serious physical injury? Perhaps. Perhaps it wasn’t reckless at all, but mere negligence. But then, that’s not the theory under which he was indicted, and hence the problem is not that his conduct wasn’t wrong, but that he was mischarged from the outset.
Had he been charged with criminally negligent homicide, a class E felony, and had that been submitted to the jury, I would think that he would be guilty.
Even though I still think that a “reasonable” jury could have reached this verdict, I would be far more comfortable if this were a conviction for negligent homicide.
Is Manslaughter an LIO of murder?
Scott’s recent post jogged my memory about a problem I had a number of years ago with the generally accepted proposition that manslaughter is a lesser included offense of murder.
Generally speaking, one offense is a lesser included offense (LIO) …
I dunno. Your home is — at least — under siege by what sure appears to be a lynch mob. You know that when seconds count, the police are only minutes away.
Stay inside and wait for them? Or have the confrontation outside, where your family, at least, is protected by the walls?
In retrospect, sure: in this case, it likely — not certainly — wouldn’t have ended as badly if White had stayed inside. Maybe not, though; he couldn’t guard all of the front, sides, and the back of the house at the same time. I think there’s at least some argument that focusing the attention of the mob on him and the front was the right thing to do, given the situation he was handed.
Yup; there’s a substantial risk that, if you go outside, you might have to shoot somebody. There’s also a substantial risk that if you stay inside, the mob might attack your family and home from multiple directions. You’re already in a situation — not of your making — where you’ve been handed substantial risk, after all.
I’ll weasel a bit by saying we don’t have all the facts, but I can see some sets of not unlikely facts where not only shouldn’t White have been convicted, but where he made a sound tactical decision, as well.
A Juror Capitulated, As Predicted, in White Conviction
It didn’t take long for juror number 4, Francois Larche, to go public.
A Juror Capitulated, As Predicted, in White Conviction
It didn’t take long for juror number 4, Francois Larche, to go public.
I just finished reading the well-researched New Yorker article (March 3, 2008), and it left me with such rage against the Cicciaro family and the racist skinhead community that purports to be outraged that a man would defend his home, his family and his son. I can only imagine what I would do and the fear that I (no doubt, one hundred percent) would experience, if late at night I learned that two cars filled with drunk and overtly threatening skinheads were on their way over to my property late at night for the purpose of causing harm after a string of racist and threatening text messages (including: “I need ur adreass you dumb nigger”). It is a horrible story precisely because this kind of racist and despicable drunken aggressiveness is predictably a precursor of disaster and ruined lives, and I admire John White for maintaining his love for the racist family has never shown any respect for the lives that THEIR son threatened (without provocation) and ultimately destroyed on that drunken night. As a white person am incredibly saddened and embarrassed by this story.
John White Sentenced to 2-4 in Cicciaro Killing
The killing of Daniel Cicciaro Jr., the drunken young man who showed up at the White residence late on night to harm young Aaron White based on a false rumor that Aaron was going to rape a white
girl, has ended with the sentence of Aaron’s father, John White, to a term of imprisonment of 2 to 4
years.
John White Sentenced to 2-4 in Cicciaro Killing
The killing of Daniel Cicciaro Jr., the drunken young man who showed up at the White residence late one night to harm young Aaron White based on a false rumor that Aaron was going to rape a white
girl, has ended with the sentence of Aaron’s father, John White, to a term of imprisonment of 2 to 4
years.
John White Sentenced to 2-4 in Cicciaro Killing (Update)
The killing of Daniel Cicciaro Jr., the drunken young man who showed up at the White residence late one night to harm young Aaron White based on a false rumor that Aaron was going to rape a white
girl, has ended with the sentence of Aaron’s father, John White, to a term of imprisonment of 2 to 4
years.
Your a bunch of idiots..you sit there and make accusations of a case you know nothing about. There was no lynch mob..I wish it were. There were in the street, not drunk..who said they were drunk? Feared for his life? Call the Popo as they call them in their songs. I can only hope Aaron gets what Dano did..ANd I can only hope that the WHite character has to deal with the loss of a black arrogant son of a bitch….
What “Dano” did? Do I take it you were part of that nice group that wanted to get that “black arrogant son of a bitch?” And this, ladies and gentlemen, is what John White was dealing with.
Tell us more about what happened. If the reports were untrue, tell us the truth.
John White Sentenced to 2-4 in Cicciaro Killing (Update)
The killing of Daniel Cicciaro Jr., the drunken young man who showed up at the White residence late one night to harm young Aaron White based on a false rumor that Aaron was going to rape a white
girl, has ended with the sentence of Aaron’s father, John White, to a term of imprisonment of 2 to 4
years.
I’m just reading about this case, which I hadn’t heard of before somehow, due to a link provided in a new dork daily news comments forum on the shotgunning salesman who’s being praised like a latter-day Burnt Hard Go-Etz. I bet that spellcheck-free Tin Lizzy of 3/20/08 was raising her plastic cup of cheap champagne to that one. So now I’ve just responded that had all else been the same but only the racial roles been reversed in this case, the skinhead crew would’ve been Held Up High as protectors/defenders of family life and property limb without no trial or jail time. Where people get the idea that the burbs are somehow immune from racism is beyond me, since this whole disjointed society was founded on it, prospered by it and as such will never be able to let go of it, it’s too deeply stained and ingrained. Those of us who like islands of reason in a flood of hate will just have to endure and fight it as we can. It won’t be completely vanquished, like certain other socioeconomic and health-related ills, but the more who can be cured the better. It just ain’t been much demonstrated in this sad and sorry situation – which itself is pathetically all too common.