William White, a Roanoke based white supremacist, wins a victory in court Tuesday ( February 19, 2008), after a scuffle with two blacks in October.
The fight happened on Chapman Avenue on October 10 of last year, when White claimed he was accosted by a Aries Brown and Latoria Minnis.
They said he started it.
Tuesday, Judge Jacqueline Talevi heard both sides.
White testified the two were involved in drugs and prostitution, while the pair claimed white attacked the woman first.
During the altercation, White took pictures with his cell phone, one showing Aries Brown drinking a beer and holding his crotch.
Aries Brown in Court Roanoke Times photo
From the witness stand White testified, “I just took a photo of him because he was still screaming at me. He would walk half way up the block then back yelling he was going to kill me and I was waiting on the police to come.”
Minnis Roanoke Times Photo
Latoria Minnis testified that White yelled at her from his car as she walked on the sidewalk. “I was walking to the store and I got assaulted he was taking my picture calling me a crack head so I was like you don't know me like that then he hit me with his phone I wasn't running nowhere,” she said.
Brown backed up her story, saying he saw White and Minnis and claims he went to protect the woman. “He hit her and I came up there and I was walking and I turned around and walked back up the street and he I went and helped her,” he said on the witness stand.
But White had a credible witness who verified his story.
The judge ruled in White's favor, and sentenced Brown and Minnis to short jail terms. Brown received a 30 day sentence with all but 10 suspended. Minnis, who has been in jail for 45 days was released for time served.
Because of White's history as a white supremacist, I asked him after court if he tried to provoke the attack.
“There was nothing I wanted less, I was headed to vacation that weekend and Mexico and I had not wanted anything to interfere with it,” he said.
Prior to the trial, the judge warned spectators in the court that there was not to be so much as a rolling of the eyes or they would be subject to contempt of court. There were no disruptions.
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