A Mighty White Verdict
Another Internet Hoax Ends in Tragedy
On December 23, 2007, The New York Post reported that John White was convicted of manslaughter in the August 2006 shooting death of 17-year-old Daniel Cicciaro. The incident took place in an upscale neighborhood of Suffolk County, New York. White faces up to 15 years in prison.
Mr. White, 54, is black. Ciccario was white. The killing stemmed from an internet chat room message that appeared to have come from Mr. White's son, Aaron, now 20. The message contained a threat to rape Ciccario's female friend. It turned out to be a hoax.
That hoax set in motion a series of events ending in Ciccario's death. Aaron, who was also a friend of Ciccario's, arrived at a party on that fateful August evening. When the female friend told Ciccario about the message, Aaron was asked to leave. He did. A short time later, Ciccario and four other young white men arrived at Mr. White's driveway shouting racial epithets. Aaron told his father that the group was going to kill him. Mr. White, a slender man, confronted the teens with a handgun. When Ciccario challenged him, the gun somehow went off, killing the 17-year-old.
The key issue in this case involves the right of a man to defend his life and property from trespassers. But because of the racial makeup of the parties, the nearly all-white jury, and the epithets employed, it has become yet another black-white cause celebre.
The jurors--at least most of them--apparently believed that Mr. White was reckless in approaching the young men with a gun and that he should have stayed inside until police arrived. That would probably have been prudent, but in the heat of the moment, people don't always do the most rational thing, especially when they're afraid of dying. What if, before the police arrived, the teens threw a brick or molotov cocktail through Mr. White's window? Or burned a cross on his lawn? Should he have also turned the cheek then?
It seems that the common law "Castle Doctrine" would apply here. According to this well-established principle, a person has no duty to retreat when he is being threatened on his or her property. Another well-established legal concept is that a person has a right to use deadly force when he or she is motally threatened, or has a reasonable belief that deadly force is imminent. Mr. White is a man of slight build who had five aggressive young men trespassing on his land. According to published reports, Aaron had told his father that they intended to kill him. It would, therefore, seem that Mr. White had a right to defend himself and his son.
Perhaps he went too far. I don't know because I wasn't on the scene, nor was I at the trial. We'll probably never know for sure.
And there's plenty of blame to go around. Ciccario could have calmly tried to confirm whether Aaron actually penned the message before going vigilante on him. The female friend could have told her parents or the police about the message instead of the hot-headed Ciccario. Then there are the four geniuses who accompanied Ciccario. Had he confronted Mr. White alone, Ciccario would have been less threatening. Under those conditions, use of a firearm would have been less likely.
But one thing is certain: the hoaxer set this deadly process in motion. If not for the hoaxer, none of the parties would have done what they did, and Ciccario would be alive today. Why isn't anyone in the media talking about this?
In a previous piece, I discussed the case of Megan Meier, a 13-year-old Missouri girl driven to suicide by adults posing online as an amorous teenage boy. Because there was no applicable law, the adults were never charged with a crime.
There may yet be hope for John White. A December 24, 2007 New York Post article indicated that Francois Larche, a white South African immigrant, was bullied by fellow jurors to convict Mr. White. According to the article, Mr. Larche was repeatedly subjected to name-calling and other forms of intimidation. There is also evidence that the trial judge put undue pressure on the jury to come up with a verdict shortly before Christmas. If these allegations are true, they are excellent grounds for appeal.
While there is hope for John White, there is none for Megan Meier and Daniel Ciccario. They're dead, and they're not coming back.
Eleven of the twelve jurors in the White case were Caucasian. The lone black juror consistently voted for conviction. In addition to Mr. Larche, a white woman had been holding out for acquittal.
The White and Meier cases indicate the need to identify and punish senders of malicious electronic messages. People can communicate in harmful ways by more traditional means such as snail mail, but electronic communication is much faster and easier. It is also quickly disseminated around the world, posessing an impact unimaginable before the internet existed. Contrary to the old adage, words can kill. Numerous scenarios come to mind. The possibilities are endless.
There should be a Federal law requiring a mandatory minimum sentence of ten years for anyone communicating in any medium when they know, or should know, that their message is likely to result in serious bodily injury or death, and such injury or death occurs. In the Meier case, the adults knew Megan suffered from depression and was on medication. The message in the White matter would constitute "fighting words" in any sane court. Civil libertarians will scream First Amendment bloody murder, but with proper safeguards, a law like this can pass Constitutional muster. Call it the Malicious Communications Act of 2008. Mrs. Clinton, Mr. Obama, and Mr. McCain, are you listening?
Published by Mark Stuart ELLISON
I have worked as a lawyer, reporter, and freelance writer. My award-winning first novel, Dear Mom, Dad & Ethel: World War II through the Eyes of a Radio Man, was published in 2004 and reissued in 2006. Pleas... View profile
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16 Comments
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White's chances for a successful appeal are very good.
Ex-cop, anyone expressing an opinion in a reasonably civil manner, including yourself, is not a troublemaker. The name-calling is inappropriate behavior here, but I'm leaving your message up because you were a police officer and your perspective is, therefore, important. In my column, I said I was sympathetic to Mr. White but could not definitively make a conclusion about his guilt or innocence because I wasn't at the trial or in the jury room. Since you weren't there either, you can't be sure, or even confident, that a white defendant would also have been convicted under the same circumstances. I don't know whether the jury was bigoted; I've presented facts pro and con. However, having attended several voir dires and been empaneled as a juror in a serious criminal case, I do know that a defendant's race does influence some jurors. Yes, we need to accept the result of the system, but this case isn't over yet. Given that two jurors have recanted and the judge behaved questionably, Mr.
I have lived and worked in minority neighborhoods my whole life. You people, including Ellison are the trouble makers here.
I don't see color, I see people. Having been in court many, many times, I can honestly say that if the defendant was white, he would have been convicted. Sure there are misjustices, look at O.J. Simpson. But we were not there, we don't know what happened, and who said and did what. We must have faith in the system and not continually bring race into the issue. There are going to be mistakes both ways but the trouble is when people continually harp on race.
Another nitwit commenting about police using force. Let her respond to the twin towers to help when everyone else is running away, or let her respond to a shooting when they place their life in danger to help others. Again, all cops aren't perfect, but you never read about the lives they save. What you read in the papers is only half the story, and half the truth.
The news reports never disclosed what the medical emergency was. If 4 men can feel threatened by an 18 year old girl enough to kill her, how much more might Mr. White have been threatened by 5 teens that just threatened to kill his son for something he never did in the first place? The Minus Factor thinks the teens "just wanted to talk and work things out". They left a party and were probably drinking. They might have used a telephone the next day. They tried Aaron in a Kangaroo Court. When Cicciaro saw the gun, he should have left not went after Mr. White.
Mr. Ellison, I stopped back to tell you this: A woman was on the roof of her house today, she had a gun and pointed it at the cops that had been called to the scene. They opened fire. She is dead. I wonder, why the cops, opened fire, when they could have dove for cover. The issue I have is this often happens round about here. One time an 18 year old girl was locked in her car with a "medical emergency". She had a gun and the 4 policeman fired 27 times killing her. Did they go to jail? (nope) The girl from all reports was an honor student and readying for college in the fall.
The Minus Factor: Actually a cop threatened to rape my young teen daughters because I refused to be intimidated into having sex with him. I could have told my ex-husband about it and the ex would surely have taken care of the issue much like those 5 teens planned to do. But you seem to have missed that the kid NEVER threatened to rape anyone. What happened to the cop, was a woman braver than me reported him and he got kicked off the force. I did not think I would be believed; his word against mine. The teens should have went to the police with the email. That would have solved the issue when it was discovered to be a hoax.
Excellent discussion. Thank you all for your thoughtful, respectful, and passionate comments about this contentious story. Two observations: 1. the news reports I've read indicate that Mr. White lived in an affluent neighborhood and that he was living in his "dream house"; and 2. reasoning with Cicciaro and his pals would have been very difficult to impossible because they were there to fight, not talk.
Alyce - Are you telling me if someone threatened to rape your friend or sister, that you wouldn't do anything about it? While I understand that this most probably someone else who posted this, one can never know. For all we know, they initially went over there to sort everything out, and when he didn't go outside, then they assumed he was guilty (which I would probably do to). In an age where crime is so rampant that it could take the police DAYS to look into something (by which time it could already be too late), action is often necessary. I am in no way condoning violence, but I am advocating that everyone be a part of the solution, and confront the wrongs that you see, if nothing out, so that misunderstandings can be worked out.
Shanika and Carol are right on in their comments!
Thought-provoking piece! I agree that Mr White had every right to present his weapon on his property. Whether or not he had to "shoot to kill", won't ever be known. I disagree that we should employ the government to create yet another federal law because many folks are just too freaking sensitive. I also don't think this case is similar to Meghan's. The only folks to blame in that case were her parents. Kids are cruel. Deal. I think Carol summed the legislation suggestion perfectly.