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Prince George's County jailer’s lawyer points to role race may play in death investigation
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Ronnie White died while in custody in Prince George's County.
Prince George’s County (Map, News) - Racial tensions are increasingly becoming a concern as the search for a killer in the Prince George’s County jail narrows to three corrections officers, one white and two black.
“I hope [his race] doesn’t make it more difficult for him ... but the case could have racial implications simply because he’s white,” said Darrell Robinson, the attorney for Russell Hardesty, one of three corrections officers who likely had a view of suspected police-killer Ronnie White’s cell the morning he was strangled. The other two officers have been identified as Anthony McIntosh and Ramon Davis, both black.
White, 19, a black man, died on June 29, less than 48 hours after he was charged with running down and killing white police Cpl. Richard Findley.
On the Sunday morning that White was found dead in his solitary cell, Hardesty was working in a control booth that had an obstructed view of White’s cell while McIntosh and Davis patrolled the floor and brought White his meals.
Zalee Harris, a founding member of the Greater Beltway Coalition, a group seeking to start a new branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in Prince George’s County, agreed with Robinson that Hardesty’s race will likely make life more difficult for him. She noted, however, “it doesn’t make him guilty. He should have the right to go through the judicial process just like Ronnie White had the right.”
Harris said racial tensions in the Laurel community where Findley was killed have long been an issue and “we’re now close to igniting a combustible situation.” She called on the county’s leadership to work with the community to dispel the angst.
But for Bobby Henry Jr., the lawyer for White’s family, the issue isn’t about black or white, “it’s about right and wrong,” he said.
“It doesn’t matter who took his life and it doesn’t mitigate the loss of life,” Henry said.
For Harris there’s also another issue that highlights the difference between the crime White allegedly committed and the men or women who were responsible for White’s death.
“Mr. White didn’t wake up and say ‘I’m going to rob a car and kill a cop’ ... but on Sunday morning some people woke up and conspired to commit murder,” Harris said.
State and federal investigators continue to question all employees in the department of corrections in what county officials have said could be a long and complicated case.
fklopott@dcexaminer.com
Comments from Examiner Readers
9:03 AM MST on Mon., Jul. 28, 2008 re: "Fibers found on strangled inmate reportedly match those on sheet"
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6:43 AM MST on Sun., Jul. 27, 2008
re: "Fibers found on strangled inmate reportedly match those on sheet"
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12:44 AM MST on Sun., Jul. 27, 2008
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12:38 PM MST on Fri., Jul. 11, 2008
re: "Prince George's County jailer’s lawyer points to role race may play in death investigation"
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10:04 AM MST on Fri., Jul. 11, 2008
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Examiner Reader said:
it was *alleged* that he killed the officer not even proven yet and whether he did or not that does not give anyone else the right to kill him - it wasn't no suicide. if he did kill the officer he should've did his time (do the crime you have to do the time...plain and simple). and others were in the vehicle so who's to say they didn't kill the officer?
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Examiner Reader said:
Hey Johnn- yea maybe. But that is not the question. It is mostly blacks doing the killing in the area, so the question is - if he were black would a black kill him because he killed a police officer? Why spend all this time money an effort. He got what he deserved.
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johnn said:
he was helped to commit sucide,but my question..if he were white would he have died
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Examiner Reader said:
Who cares, a thug cop killer was killed so be it, let it go. I think that if the courts did their jobs this incident would not have happened.
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Examiner Reader said:
White's death was not race related. He killed a cop and got what was coming to him. There would be no racial tensions if the government and the media would stop shoving it down our throats.
8 agree | 11 disagree
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