Prometheus 6

You remember this...drunk white teenagers rolled up on a Black family's house talking about lynching. One gets shot by accident.

Cicciaro drove to the White home with four friends to confront Aaron White. John White argued with the teens and shot Cicciaro in the face. The Whites are black and Cicciaro and his friends are white. Supporters of White wondered whether he would have been prosecuted as vigorously if he were white for shooting someone while trying to protect his home from a "lynch mob" of drunken teenagers. White said the gun went off accidentally when Cicciaro lunged for it.

Cicciaro's family and supporters argued the case was not about race, but about a grown man who shot a teenager unnecessarily.

Check the father's reaction. Tell me whether or not it was about race. And I don't want to hear shit about grief.

Family outraged over sentence in Miller Place slaying
BY LUIS PEREZ and MATTHEW CHAYES
4:54 PM EDT, March 19, 2008

John White was sentenced to 2 to 4 years in prison Wednesday for killing Daniel Cicciaro Jr., in the latest chapter in a racially driven court drama that pitted two Long Island families against each other and drew national attention.

Moments after the court session was dismissed, family and friends of the victim stormed out of the courtroom cursing, crying and criticizing the verdict. Cicciaro's father, Daniel Cicciaro Sr., issued what a defense attorney called an implied threat against White's son.

"Well, let's see what happens when Aaron White gets shot, and see how the laws are. Let's see what happens now."

Moments before Judge Barbara Kahn imposed the sentence, White, 54, rebutted testimony from Cicciaro's family that he was unremorseful.

"I've always remained remorseful," White said, speaking in a near whisper and flanked by his three attorneys. "I've thought about this every day of my life."

In a lengthy victim impact statements before the court, Cicciaro's parents both asked Suffolk County Court Judge Barbara 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." 

Before the trial began, Kahn had offered White 2 to 6 years in exchange for a guilty plea.

The sentence imposed by Kahn included a 1 1/3-to-4 year sentence for second-degree manslaughter and 2 years for possessing an illegal gun. Both are to be served concurrently.

Citing the calls for justice from the Cicciaro family, Kahn said before the ruling:

"Vengeance is not a proper basis for a penal sanction," adding "The sentence imposed today is not meant as a value of the life of Daniel Cicciaro."

Kahn also noted that she received close to 100 letters from White's supporters, which included neighbors, civic groups and strangers. She said she also received numerous letters in support of the Cicciaro.

As soon as Kahn began speaking of the uncharged "moral accessories" to the teen's death -- saying she was struck by each witnesses' "minimization" of their role -- his parents started shaking their heads, appearing strikingly prescient before the sentence was pronounced.

White's attorney called on prosecutors to look into Cicciaro's outburst outside the courthouse and consider harassment charges by noon tomorrow or he would take the matter to the U.S. attorney's office. Prosecutor James Chalifoux said he would refer the matter to the police.

The sentence is the latest chapter in a saga that began on Aug. 9, 2006, outside White's home when Cicciaro and several friends acted on a false rumor that White's son, Aaron, had threatened to rape a girl who was at a party that the youngsters had attended that night.