A Guide to John White’s Appeal
By Alton H. Maddox, Jr.
John White appeals to the Appellate Division, Second Judicial Department from a judgment convicting him, after trial by an all-white jury, of manslaughter in the second degree and criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree. He was sentenced in County Court, Suffolk County to an indeterminate term of 1 1/3 to four years and a determinate two-year term. Both sentences are to be served concurrently.- Hide quoted text - The argument of the appeal is scheduled for this Friday at 10:00 a.m. People v. John White is number one on the calendar. Politics is the suspect. This intermediate appellate court has probably received intelligence indicating a big turnout. Black people should not disappoint. This is an historic appeal. White supremacy is on trial. See “Negroes with Guns.” Unlike the U.S. Supreme Court or the highest court of a state, all of the justices that sit on an intermediate appellate court do not sit en banc unless an appeal has been heard by a panel of the intermediate appellate court and a majority of the justices vote to hear the case en banc. All of the judges of the state’s highest court or the justices of the High Court , invariably, sit in unison in every case. Associate Justice Steven W. Fisher will preside over the appeal of People v. White on Friday. The other members of the panel include Associate Justices Daniel D. Angiolillo, Plummer E. Lott and Randall T. Eng. All of the justices were elected to the New York Supreme Court bench for fourteen years and are appointed to the intermediate appellate court by the governor. The common thread, for each of the justices assigned to hear the appeal of People v. White, is that each justice was once an assistant district attorney. This is commonplace. It is also commonplace for most of the criminal defendants to have their judgments of conviction affirmed on appeal. Democrats and Republicans alike prefer to elect prosecutors to the bench rather than defense lawyers. Justice Lott and Alton Maddox, as defense attorneys, once represented co-defendants in the slashing of Marla Hanson. During the trial, the prosecutors offered Maddox’s client an opportunity to bow out of the trial because of a potential Bruton problem which invokes the Sixth Amendment. His client’s mother rejected the offer. Maddox favored it. Lott blindsided Maddox during the closing statement rather than for him to attack the prosecutor’s case. Maddox had cross-examined Hanson for four days to the ire of the white media and Mayor Ed Koch who demanded that Justice Jeffrey Atlas apologize to Hanson on television for Maddox’s “misconduct.” No “Negro lawyer” should keep a white woman on the witness stand for four days. To become a judge, a lawyer must have paid his or her dues. It helps that the lawyer has done some good deeds for the district attorney’s office. The mayor of New York City would appoint Lott as a Criminal Court judge for a ten-year term after Hanson. The Democratic Party would later reward him with a plum to the Kings County Supreme Court. Attorney Richard E. Mischel will argue the appeal for White. The Suffolk County prosecutor’s office described White’s defense of his family and his home as “senseless.” Its brief cites People v. Almodovar, 62 NY2d 126, 130 (1984) for the proposition that “a person either possesses a weapon lawfully or he does not and he may not avoid the criminal charge by claiming that he possessed the weapon for his protection.” The prosecutor’s argument is that if a defendant possesses a weapon unlawfully and a white person dies even if the Black homeowner is using the weapon in defense of his property, the defendant can be found guilty of manslaughter in the second degree. After four days of deliberations, the jury was “hopelessly deadlocked.” Two of the jurors were firm in voting for an acquittal. Others were vacillating. Juror #10 demanded that the jury be sent home and that “[w]e can’t take this anymore.” Jury deliberations started on December 19, 2007 and ended on December 22, 2007. The jury was given a partial Allen charge on December 21 and a complete Allen charge on December 22, 2007. Fifty-six minutes later, the jury convicted White. An Allen charge is intended to coerce the jury. It did. The County Court also refused to instruct the jury that it is justifiable that a person of African ancestry can use a weapon against a white mob to defend his family and property. Even though a burglary was in progress with a drunken lynch mob on White’s property and threatening to do bodily harm to the occupants of the premises, the Court found that this was insufficient evidence to instruct the jury about justification.
By Alton H. Maddox, Jr.
John White appeals to the Appellate Division, Second Judicial Department from a judgment convicting him, after trial by an all-white jury, of manslaughter in the second degree and criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree. He was sentenced in County Court, Suffolk County to an indeterminate term of 1 1/3 to four years and a determinate two-year term. Both sentences are to be served concurrently.- Hide quoted text - The argument of the appeal is scheduled for this Friday at 10:00 a.m. People v. John White is number one on the calendar. Politics is the suspect. This intermediate appellate court has probably received intelligence indicating a big turnout. Black people should not disappoint. This is an historic appeal. White supremacy is on trial. See “Negroes with Guns.” Unlike the U.S. Supreme Court or the highest court of a state, all of the justices that sit on an intermediate appellate court do not sit en banc unless an appeal has been heard by a panel of the intermediate appellate court and a majority of the justices vote to hear the case en banc. All of the judges of the state’s highest court or the justices of the High Court , invariably, sit in unison in every case. Associate Justice Steven W. Fisher will preside over the appeal of People v. White on Friday. The other members of the panel include Associate Justices Daniel D. Angiolillo, Plummer E. Lott and Randall T. Eng. All of the justices were elected to the New York Supreme Court bench for fourteen years and are appointed to the intermediate appellate court by the governor. The common thread, for each of the justices assigned to hear the appeal of People v. White, is that each justice was once an assistant district attorney. This is commonplace. It is also commonplace for most of the criminal defendants to have their judgments of conviction affirmed on appeal. Democrats and Republicans alike prefer to elect prosecutors to the bench rather than defense lawyers. Justice Lott and Alton Maddox, as defense attorneys, once represented co-defendants in the slashing of Marla Hanson. During the trial, the prosecutors offered Maddox’s client an opportunity to bow out of the trial because of a potential Bruton problem which invokes the Sixth Amendment. His client’s mother rejected the offer. Maddox favored it. Lott blindsided Maddox during the closing statement rather than for him to attack the prosecutor’s case. Maddox had cross-examined Hanson for four days to the ire of the white media and Mayor Ed Koch who demanded that Justice Jeffrey Atlas apologize to Hanson on television for Maddox’s “misconduct.” No “Negro lawyer” should keep a white woman on the witness stand for four days. To become a judge, a lawyer must have paid his or her dues. It helps that the lawyer has done some good deeds for the district attorney’s office. The mayor of New York City would appoint Lott as a Criminal Court judge for a ten-year term after Hanson. The Democratic Party would later reward him with a plum to the Kings County Supreme Court. Attorney Richard E. Mischel will argue the appeal for White. The Suffolk County prosecutor’s office described White’s defense of his family and his home as “senseless.” Its brief cites People v. Almodovar, 62 NY2d 126, 130 (1984) for the proposition that “a person either possesses a weapon lawfully or he does not and he may not avoid the criminal charge by claiming that he possessed the weapon for his protection.” The prosecutor’s argument is that if a defendant possesses a weapon unlawfully and a white person dies even if the Black homeowner is using the weapon in defense of his property, the defendant can be found guilty of manslaughter in the second degree. After four days of deliberations, the jury was “hopelessly deadlocked.” Two of the jurors were firm in voting for an acquittal. Others were vacillating. Juror #10 demanded that the jury be sent home and that “[w]e can’t take this anymore.” Jury deliberations started on December 19, 2007 and ended on December 22, 2007. The jury was given a partial Allen charge on December 21 and a complete Allen charge on December 22, 2007. Fifty-six minutes later, the jury convicted White. An Allen charge is intended to coerce the jury. It did. The County Court also refused to instruct the jury that it is justifiable that a person of African ancestry can use a weapon against a white mob to defend his family and property. Even though a burglary was in progress with a drunken lynch mob on White’s property and threatening to do bodily harm to the occupants of the premises, the Court found that this was insufficient evidence to instruct the jury about justification.
posted by Attorney Alton Maddox at 6:29 PM
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