Venue change delayed in alleged Jackson hate-crime case

Central Mississippi News Venue Change Delayed in Anderson Killing Trial
Accused killer in alledged hate crime is led a way by officers on August 17, 2011. In inset: James Craig Anderson (left) was the victim of a fatal hit and run on Sunday, June 26, 2011. Deryl Dedmon (top right) was charged with murder with bail set at $ 50,000. He faces life in prison twice. A second teenager, 18, Aaron Rice (lower right), was charged with assault for his involvement.

JACKSON (AP) — A judge on Tuesday postponed arguments on whether to move the trial of a white Mississippi teenager charged with intentionally using a pickup truck to run over a black man.

Venue Change Delayed In Killing Of Black Man
Accused killer in an alledged hate crime is led a way by officers on August 17, 2011. James Craig Anderson was the victim of a fatal hit and run on Sunday, June 26, 2011. Deryl Dedmon (above) was charged with murder. He faces life in prison twice.
Venue Change Delayed In Killing Of Black Man
James Craig Anderson (left) was the victim of a fatal hit and run on Sunday, June 26, 2011. Deryl Dedmon (top right) was charged with murder with bail set at $ 50,000. He faces life in prison twice. A second teenager, 18, Aaron Rice (lower right), was charged with assault for his involvement.

Deryl Dedmon, 19, of Brandon, has pleaded not guilty to capital murder in the June 2011 death of James Craig Anderson, a 49-year-old car plant worker from Jackson. Prosecutors have termed it a hate crime.

Dedmon’s attorneys have filed motions to move the trial out of Hinds County, home to Mississippi’s majority-black capital city. Dedmon signed an affidavit on Monday that says he believes he can’t get a fair trial because of extensive news coverage in the case.

“Since this case involved a crime allegedly committed by a white person against a black victim, an element which favors a move, there has been more pervasive publicity than in an ordinary case which increases the likelihood of prejudice and consequently weigh in favor of a change of venue,” Dedmon’s attorney wrote in court records.

Beverly Pettigrew Kraft, a spokeswoman for the Hinds County Circuit Court, said Tuesday that Dedmon’s motion hearing set for Thursday has been continued. Circuit Court Judge Jeff Weill set the new hearing date for Feb. 16.

District Attorney Robert Shuler Smith did not immediately respond to a message Tuesday from The Associated Press.

The FBI also is investigating the case.

Authorities say seven white teens were partying into the early morning hours the day of Anderson’s death when Dedmon suggested they find a black man to “mess with.” Police say Anderson was beaten before Dedmon ran him down before dawn near a hotel on Ellis Avenue.

One other teenager, John Aaron Rice, is charged in the case. Rice is charged with simple assault because a judge reduced the charge from murder after a detective testified that Rice left the scene in another car before Anderson died.

The case has been the subject of dozens of local and national news stories and received widespread attention after a video of Anderson’s death was obtained by news organizations, including the AP.

The video, taken by a hotel surveillance camera, shows a white Jeep Cherokee in which Rice was allegedly a passenger leaving a hotel parking lot at 5:05 a.m. Less than 20 seconds later, a Ford truck backs up and then lunges forward. Anderson’s shirt is illuminated in the headlights before he disappears under the vehicle next to the curb. Police say Dedmon was driving the truck and later bragged that he ran over Anderson, using a racial slur to describe him.

Dedmon is charged with capital murder, which in Mississippi is defined as murder committed along with another felony.

 

 

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