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. He faced a potential sentence of 5 to 15 years for second degree manslaughter.
I’ve posted about this case here and here.
In a lengthy victim impact statements before the court, Cicciaro’s parents both asked Kahn to impose the maximum 5 to 15 year sentence for manslaughter and gun possession.
“You knew it was murder that night,” said Daniel Cicciaro Sr. “You’re a coward and God knows you’re guilty of killing my son.”
Oddly, Daniel the father saw nothing in the way he raised his son as contributing to the volatile situation resulting in his son’s death.
As soon as Kahn began speaking of the uncharged “moral accessories” to the teen’s death, his parents started shaking their heads — appearing strikingly prescient before the sentence was pronounced.
And when the court session was dismissed, family and friends of the victim stormed out of the courtroom cursing and crying.
This case was horrible for all involved, and all around. But what is most disturbing is the underlying attitude that resulted in one young man dead and a father going to prison, and no lesson having been learned.
Update: See this WABC footage of Daniel, Sr. after the sentence, screaming “We’ll see what happens when Aaron White gets shot and see how the laws are.” Judging from the parent, the son never had a chance. He appears to be sufficiently disturbed to make good on his threat. It’s hard to find printable language to describe the Cicciaro’s and their ilk.
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I agree wholeheartedly. I wish I could find more details about the night of the incident, but if Cicero Sr.’s behavior is indicative of his son’s, it seems like justice was done.
The suggestion that White got a lighter sentence because he was black is ludicrous… how many times to blacks receive harsher sentences than whites?
News Flash Mr. Cicero: Too Often!
The description of what happened that night is vague for one very unfortunate reason: Young Cicciaro was a bad boy and they didn’t want to besmirch the dead. Unfortunately, it results in a very strange and inadequate description of what happened.
John White received the sentence he got because, in the scheme of things, his conduct was hardly worse, and some might say a far cry better, than young Cicciaro. The apple rarely roles far from the tree.
I followed the trial in the newspapers and read the article by Trillin in the New Yorker and certain facts about what occurred that night seemed to be beyond dispute. Aaron White reached his home well before the carload of teens who were threatening him and enough time elapsed for the father and the son to collect weapons and walk/run down a 75 foot driveway to confront the potential attackers. It also was clear that none of the attackers was armed. The question now becomes was John White justified in pointing a loaded gun at these potential attackers? It cannot be seriously argued that because the father of the victim is believed to be a racist that the acts were justified just as it could not be argued that if the father of the victim was a Quaker, it was not justified. The actual question is, under the rules of our society, should a person, no matter the race or religion, decide not to call the police, not to stay inside his house, but rather to go to the edge of a driveway for a confrontation? The decision John White made was not only a bad decision, it was, as defined by statute, a criminal one.
As to the sentencing, it would seem that a prison term of 2-4 years is a fair one, it is punishment but not excessive but that is an objective view. I doubt very much that the parent of any child, shot dead in the face, would agree with me. It seems to me that you have judged Cicero with far less compassion than you have for White
Frankly, I am not impressed at all with your position on this matter
I am heartbroken that I didn’t impress you. Perhaps that has something to do with your facile mangling of the facts and disagreement with my lack of sympathy toward the threat of Daniel Cicciaro (if you read so much about it, you really ought to know his name) Sr.’s threat to shoot Aaron White in retribution?
Quite true. John White didn’t ask for a gang of drunken kids to show up at his house to attack and beat his son for something that never happened. I don’t condone how John White handled the situation, but I don’t ignore what Daniel Cicciaro, Jr. did either. So I guess I’m just gonna have to live without your being impressed. Sorry.
Well, I see that a failure to agree with you results in sarcasam and snide comments. True colors?
In any event, I see no purpose in continuing a discussion with you and will leave you to preach to the choir.
If you want to show up here and spout nonsense, then be man enough to take it. Or run away, which apparently suits you better. I didn’t see any “discussion” involved in your comment, just a self-serving pronouncement that you know more and, therefore, are unimpressed. So be it.
I had thought the point of discussion would be the role the victim’s upbringing had to do with the verdict and sentencing in this case. Your post stated that it was important while I don’t agree with that. You’ve also stated that I’ve not been correct with the facts although you havn’t pointed out which, if any of the ones I stated were in error. This is what I thought the “discussion” would be about. I did not think it would be about your broken heart. Since you believe it is manly to make snide remarks, I’ll take some time to figure out how an apple “roles” from a a tree while you can continue to preach to the choir which more likely is your bathroom mirror. I assure you I am more than man enough to take the slings and arrows of an opposing point of view but prefer to do so when there is at least some merit to them. Once again, no weapon in the victim’s possession, the confrontation was at the foot of the driveway, the defendant pointed a loaded gun, not only was there no attemtp to retreat, there was an overt act of confrontation and there was no call to the police. These, according to what I have read, are the facts. You are invited to dispute them or correct me. If you persist in attacking me and describing your feelings, then the objective conclusion would be that you are unable to so. I am impressed by intelligent and well reasoned points of view not by statements which concur with my beliefs. I am, therefore, easily impressed but so far I have not been impressed by your writing.
Since you’ve come back, the least I can do is address your point.
The role of the victim’s upbringing is important in how and why this entire scenario developed. As I wrote earlier, John White didn’t go to the Cicciaro’s home looking for problems. As I also wrote earlier, I don’t disagree that White’s handling of the situation was poor; he should have called the police rather than confronted the mob. Whether the mob was armed, or would just attack with hands and feet, or throw rocks, is only a matter of speculation at this point. White’s position was that Daniel Cicciaro was shot when he tried to take the gun away. I have a great deal of difficulty in believing that John White pulled the trigger and shot Cicciaro in the face without something more having cause the weapon to fire. Again, White wasn’t there to attack Cicciaro, but to defend (even if improvidently) his home and family.
There are certain facts in this case that cannot be ignored. Cicciaro and a group of others, reportedly drunk and angry about the false rumor that Aaron White was going to rape a white girl, went to his house to “do something.” This is what precipitated the incident. John White’s going outside was in response to this. This is a critical detail: White was not the initiator of the confrontation.
I believe that young Daniel Cicciaro’s conduct, the anger, the aggression and at least the implicit racism, was the precipitating force in this situation. I had no idea that this would be reflected in his father’s actions until the post-sentence video, which gave rise to my connection between the dangerous conduct of the son and his upbringing. No, not all fathers who sons are killed react as Daniel Cicciaro, Sr. did. But more importantly, his reaction was not mere anger, but the threat of violence and the hope for the death of Aaron White. No, this is not the way “any father” would react.
And if I’m preaching to the choice in my “bathroom mirror,” then why would it be worth your while to bother with me?
Well, I see that you are capable of writing a post without personal attacks and snide comments. I hung around to respond because you accused me of running away and it is not in my nature to run, to evade or to call someone names behind their back. You say that your post was the “least” you could do but in my opinion it was the best you are capable of and I don’t find you very interesting……… so I will now WALK away.
As you are entitled, Duke. So long.
White should have gotten a harsher sentence. he murdered a kid and this situation could have been easily avoided. he and his son, advanced on a group of unarmed kids, with weapons. he alleges that Dan grabbed for his gun and it went off? what 17-yr.-old kid is going to do that? he was in the real world, not playing a videogame. furthermore, the evidence didn’t support this. White had time to call the police if he really felt threatened. he and his son could have stayed inside their house, if they were concerned–and waited for the cops– any normal person would have done that if they felt they were in harm. you want to physically harm someone, you don’t announce it beforehand and go to their house to do it. while they should have stayed away, the boys prob. just wanted to talk trash. maybe if even just “trash” was talked back and forth, they would have figured out that the myspace comment in question wasn’t authentic. or the Whites could. have. just. called. the. cops. who would immediately ‘reason’ to start shooting kids at point-blank range?
also, if you thought someone threatened to rape a good friends of yours, i think you’d be upset. race wouldn’t matter. rape is not a subject that should be taken lightly. that kid who posted the commet as a “joke” shouold have been charged with something.
I agree that John White should have rec’vd a harsher sentence. While those teens should not have set out to “get” anyone in the 1st place, Daniel should not have been killed. The fact that the Whites had the time to go and get their ILLEGAL HANDGUN and then proceeded to go out to the driveway to confront these boys shows that he is not an honest, upstanding man. Not everyone in his position would have done the same. Some of us would have locked the doors, called 911 and allow the police to handle it. This was not an accident. If you bring a gun to a confrontation, someone is bound to get hurt or killed.
While these last two posting are certainly invitations to reply with a lengthy reponse, SHG has done a fine job of summing up the facts in this case, presenting the issues, and finally coming up with a reasonable conclusion. Any insight I offer to add would be mere repetition, thus i will execute restraint in sharing my detailed opinion. I will say, I read earlier where Duke commented on White’s failure to retreat into his home, when he clearly had the ability to, implying that Mr. White actually had the duty to. You are misinformed on the law. Under the Castle doctrine of the law, a man is not required to retreat when threatened at his home, or in his “castle”. On the contrary, he may use reasonable force, which does include deadly force to protect his home/family. Whether he was faced with grave bodily harm or danger is at conflict in this case. Police did recover a baseball bat in the back seat of the car, also covered in blood, that both parties agree was brought to the White’s home. The deceased’s friends claim to have never brought the bat out of the car, yet Mr. White claims one of the crew had it visibly in his hands. Who’s story should be believed was ultimately up to the trier of the facts but taken in a light favorable to Mr. White, as he was not the aggressor, seems plausible. No matter what your opinion is ultimately in this case, I feel this case should stand as a lesson to our youth today, an out-of-control, act without regard for consequence proned generation, that society is fed up and willing to take a stand against this blatant disregard for others, even if it costs them the ultimate price.
Thanks Lisa. We get a rather broad array of readers/commenters here. Some are more thoughtful, while others more emotional.
My theory is that we learn from the good, the bad and the ugly. While I generally try to limit the more offensive stuff, it’s important that we realize how people think and react, and much of this “tough writing” provides great insight into other people. For better or worse, this is our world and these are the people.
And thank you for your detailed and very thoughtful analysis.