This Day In History

May 3 1963
Eugene "Bull" Connor directs security forces in Birmingham, Alabama to unleash police dogs on civil rights protesters, and then blast them with high-pressure fire hoses. Unfortunately for segregationists, television networks bring the footage to a shocked national audience. In the wake of the overwhelming public response, President Kennedy quips that Connor "has done more for civil rights than almost anybody else."

May 3 1988
The White House confirms stories that President Ronald Reagan's travel and public appearances are scheduled around astrological data furnished by a mystic in San Francisco. The astrologer also supplies input to the timing of critical international events, such as a recent arms control summit in Iceland.

Parent: Homework Assignment Crosses the Line

Greenwich Citizen- Greenwich's top educator is defending the use of a handout sheet of literary passages containing racial, ethnic and gender slurs that was part of a homework assignment on free speech and censorship in the middle schools.

An "appetizer" to a project coinciding with the American Library Association's Banned Books Week, which took place in early October and celebrated the First Amendment, the handout was intended to get students to think about why certain literary classics are considered taboo, said Sidney Freund, the superintendent of schools.

Among the works quoted in the controversial hand-out, which did not say which books the racy passages came from but appeared to list their page numbers, were "The Pearl," "To Kill a Mockingbird" and "Sounder."

"They're all books that are in our library that any child can read," Freund told Greenwich Time. "The quotes are being read by kids out of context on purpose. What we try to do always in school is we present things with opposing viewpoints."

The father of an 11-year-old Central Middle School accelerated learning program student who received the hand-out believes that educators crossed the line with the assignment, however.

"I feel as a parent of a seventh-grader that words that start with the letter `F' and are four letters in duration and that words that start with letter `N' and are six letters in duration are inappropriate," Gary Cella said. "Like many parents, I said, `Let's go over your homework.' When I saw this, I literally stopped in my tracks and did the classic double-take. It's not something you expect from any school."

A recurring theme among the passages, which also contain a series of expletives, is slavery and racism.

" `There are two things I can smell a mile,' the first man said in a loud voice. `One's a ham cookin' and the other's a thievin' n------,' " read one of the passages lifted from "Sounder," a William H. Armstrongnovel about the struggles of a black sharecropper family.

Freund said the hand-out was part of a broader project in which the students were expected to read from one of the works on the ALA's banned book list and do a persuasive essay or PowerPoint presentation on the subject of censorship.

Never before has the school district received any complaints about the exercise, according to Freund, who said it has been part of the accelerated learning curriculum for a number of years. Freund did open the door to changes in light of the controversy, however.

"My caution would be in the future, if we're doing this and prior to doing it, is a letter to parents letting them know what we're doing and explaining the lessons since there was some obvious concern related to this," Freund said. "Some tempering of the quotes could be made, and we would not lose the essence of the message that we're trying to deliver to the kids about censorship. But overall, the lesson in the unit is a good one."

One of the controversial passages included in the hand-out came from "House Divided," part of collection of short stories by Ray Bradbury.

It read: "Small fifteen-year-old fingers plucked at the buttons' on Chris' trousers like a moth drawn to an open flame."

Cella said he was so incensed by the racy content of the material that he called Freund's office and was referred to Shelley Somers, the Central Middle School principal.

"My goodness, they grow up so fast to begin with. Do you have to expose them to these words?" Cella said. "I spoke to some parents in the PTA, and they were really taken aback by it."

Messages seeking comment from Somers and from Anthony Mangano, the teacher who gave the assignment to Cella's daughter, were left Tuesday at the school.

Sam Romeo, a child safety advocate, community leader and WGCH radio host, complained to school administrators about the assignment after hearing from parents.

"Where is the sensitivity?" Romeo said, adding that people in the television and radio industry have lost jobs for using similar words.

Just because the books are available in the library, Romeo said that doesn't justify lifting such inflammatory passages from them.

"Can they also get a copy of Playboy and Penthouse magazine under free speech?" Romeo said.

A message seeking comment from Steve Anderson, the school board chairman, was left at his home.

School board member Peter Sherr confirmed that the issue is on the radar of educators but said he didn't want to pass judgment until he received a full explanation of the assignment.

"I've become aware of the situation," Sherr said. "I don't know all the facts yet. I believe the administration is addressing it. I'm looking forward to hearing all of the details."

Freund said he didn't know how many students received the hand-out and whether the assignment was limited to seventh-graders.

The same subject matter was likely taught at Eastern and Western Middle schools, according to Freund, who said an argument could be made that abbreviating some of the slurs and expletives in the hand-out could be seen as window-dressing.

"I doubt there will be a kid who doesn't know what the word is," Freund said. "Again, they're going to read it in a book."

Cella argued that educators are sending a mixed message, however.

"When your teacher is using the `F' word and the `N' word, it kind of OKs their usage outside that particular assignment," Cella said. "You can't have it both ways."

White Supremacist 'Stabbed and Beaten to Death by His Black Neighbour' in Mississippi Town

Daily Mail- A white supremacist lawyer was stabbed and beaten to death by a black neighbour who had done yard work for him at his home in Pearl, Mississippi.

A preliminary post mortem showed Richard Barrett, 67, was stabbed multiple times in the neck and bashed in the head, Sheriff Ronnie Pennington said.

He had burns over 35 per cent of his body, though investigators believe he was killed on Wednesday night and his house set on fire Thursday to cover up his death.

Pennington did not disclose a motive but said neighbour Vincent McGee, 22, was charged with murder on Thursday and deputies charged three other people in the case on Friday.

Albert Lewis, McGee's stepfather, was charged with being an accessory after the fact, while Vicky and Michael Dent, who live nearby, are charged with being accessories after the fact and arson.

Pennington did not describe their involvement but said all three were being held at the county jail. He did not know if they had attorneys.

Barrett traveled the country to promote anti-black and anti-immigrant views and founded a supremacist group called the Nationalist Movement. He had a knack for publicity but little real influence, one expert said.

'Richard Barrett was a guy who ran around the country essentially pulling off publicity stunts,' said Mark Potok, who monitors hate groups for the Alabama-based Southern Poverty Law Center.

'He really never amounted to any kind of leader in the white supremacist movement.'
His body was found on Thursday morning after neighbours saw smoke coming from his house in a rural area of Jackson.

The sheriff said McGee had not yet hired a lawyer and the suspect's mother had no comment when she went to the jail where her son was being held.

McGee was released from state prison in February after serving five years of a six-year sentence for simple assault on a police officer and grand larceny.

Barrett, a New York City native and Vietnam War veteran, moved to Mississippi in 1966, just before he founded the Nationalist Movement.

He ran it from an office in the small rural town of Learned, about 20 miles southwest of Jackson, where he also ran a school for skinheads.

Barrett attracted about 50 supporters to a 2008 rally protesting the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday in the Louisiana town of Jena, where six black teenagers were charged with beating a white classmate.

Years earlier, he sued over a ban on Confederate flags at University of Mississippi football games.

His modest, one-story brick home with white columns and shutters sits off a winding rural road. Yellow police tape was stretched across the yard and investigators worked on the scene late into the day.

Residents described the neighborhood as quiet and safe. Henderson Craig, who lives a few houses down, said Barrett mainly kept to himself though he was often seen riding his bicycle.

In 1994, he spearheaded an unsuccessful movement to get then-Gov. Kirk Fordice to pardon Byron de la Beckwith, who was convicted of murdering Mississippi NAACP leader Medgar Evers in 1963.

Evers' brother, Charles Evers, said Thursday he has long thought that Barrett didn't really believe the things he said, but used them to entice people to donate money to his cause.

'I think it was just a way he had to live,' Evers said. 'He made a living talking all that racist talk.'

Teen Pleads No Contest In Noose Case

MOUNT VERNON, Ohio — An 18-year-old accused of putting a noose around a teenager's neck was sentenced to 10 days in jail on Wednesday.

The suspect, who 10TV did not identify because he allegedly committed the crime as a juvenile, pleaded no contest with to a charge of ethnic intimidation, which is a fifth-degree felony, 10TV's Patrick Bell reported.

A charge of aggravated menacing was dropped as part of an agreement.

Robert Cantu, who is half Hispanic, told 10TV's Cara Connelly on Monday that the alleged attack occurred in broad daylight. He said the boys were shouting racial slurs at him and a friend, who is African-American.

"The next thing I know, those kids jump(ed) out of the truck with a noose and (said), 'Get the black kid,'" Cantu said. "I didn't know what was going on until they pushed me down and put the noose on me."

Cantu, 17, said that his friend ran away but he was dragged around the lot.

According to Cantu, the teens told him they were taking him to the town square to hang him before a bystander rescued him.

"The fact that (Robert) is Hispanic and that was the whole reason for the hanging - these were people he never knew, never met," said Marcie Cantu, the boy's mother.

After months of investigating, Knox County prosecutors filed charges against an 18-year-old.

Robert Cantu and his mother said 10 days in jail is not justice for the pain they have suffered, Bell reported.

"They put a noose around his neck and dragged him and they told him, We are going to kill you.' Can you imagine what that child went through?" Marcie Cantu said. "(I'm) just floored. That is not sending a message to the community."

"I think he should have gotten more than 10 days," Robert Cantu said. "He's 18, he should have gotten more severe punishment for what he did."

Judge James Ronk declined to comment on the sentencing, telling 10TV News that it "wouldn't be judicious and would violate some kind of judicial ethics."

The defendant's family also declined to speak to 10TV News.

The Cantus said they planned to file a civil lawsuit against the city of Mount Vernon. They also said the family intends to move out of town.

Stay with 10TV News and 10TV.com for more information.

2 Teens Get Jail Time in Mexican's Beating Death

(CNN) -- Two Pennsylvania teens will serve time in a county jail for participating in a brawl that left a Mexican immigrant dead last July.

Brandon Piekarsky, 17, was sentenced to 6 to 23 months, and Derrick Donchak, 19, received 7 to 23 months for their roles in the beating death of 25-year-old Luis Ramirez.

Judge William Baldwin ordered the two to report to Schuylkill County jail on July 19 to begin serving their sentences.

An all-white jury convicted the two former high school football players of misdemeanor simple assault at trial last month and acquitted them of felony counts, including aggravated assault, ethnic intimidation and hindering apprehension -- charges that carried lengthier sentences.

In fashioning his sentence, Baldwin acknowledged the severity of the attack, which left Ramirez on life support for two days before he died, but said he could pass a sentence only in accordance with the jury's verdict.

"This wasn't any fight, this was a group of young athletes ganging up on one person. That's not a street fight," Baldwin said, referring to the defense team's characterization of the confrontation as a "street fight."

"You picked out a guy who wasn't one of you and beat the pulp out of him," Baldwin said.

The incident divided the small, rural mining town of Shenandoah into camps for and against the boys as it became a flashpoint for racial tensions across the country.

After the verdict, Gov. Ed Rendell sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder recommending that the Department of Justice pursue civil rights charges.

"The evidence suggests that Mr. Ramirez was targeted, beaten and killed because he was Mexican," Rendell said. "Such lawlessness and violence hurts not only the victim of the attack but also our towns and communities that are torn apart by such bigotry and intolerance."

During Wednesday's sentencing, Baldwin said he was surprised that Rendell had chosen to speak out on the case and told the court that his sentence was not affected by the governor's letter.

Fred Fanelli, Piekarsky's lawyer, said he felt the sentence was harsh, given the circumstances. The judge could have sentenced the teens to probation under Pennsylvania's sentencing guidelines.

"I'm disappointed that the court exceeded the aggravated range and sentenced him to six months. Having said that, I'm glad we finally have some finality with this case," Fanelli told CNN affiliate WBRE after the sentencing.

Baldwin heard from several teachers, coaches and family friends who testified that the teens were good kids who fell into a bad situation. They urged leniency so the teens could realize their potential as adults.

Ramirez's longtime girlfriend and mother of two of his children read a statement in open court before an audience consisting mostly of the defendants' supporters.

"He was my one and only love, and they took him away from me, and they took my children's father," Crystal Dillman said. "Now I have to live without my best friend and love of my life."

The court also heard a prepared statement from Ramirez's mother, Elisa Zavala, who lives in Guanajuato, Mexico.

"I'm not the same person as before, now I feel a great emptiness within my heart," she wrote. "There are moments in which I'm alone and I ask myself: What do I do now that I don't have my son? I feel that without him, I am no one."

The judge also tacked on extra days to each boy's sentence for consuming alcohol earlier in the evening. For providing the alcohol to his friends before the fight, Donchak was also convicted of corrupting minors.

Jurors found Piekarsky not guilty of third-degree murder. Prosecutors had said he delivered a fatal kick to Ramirez's head after Ramirez was knocked to the ground in the alcohol-fueled brawl, which occurred on a residential street in Shenandoah the evening of July 12.

Prosecutors alleged that a group of teens, which included Piekarsky and Donchak, baited Ramirez into the initial confrontation after a night of drinking, hurling racial epithets at the undocumented Mexican immigrant.

After the fight broke up, witnesses said Ramirez came back at the teens, who beat him so severely that, according to a medical testimony, brain tissue oozed out of his skull during surgery at a hospital.

Jurors heard from several teens who witnessed the incident but did not participate, as well as one teen who pleaded guilty in juvenile court and another whose case is being handled in federal court. The testimony painted a picture of confusion, with several inconsistencies as to who did what.

Defense lawyers argued that Ramirez's death was a street brawl gone wrong that was not motivated by racial bias. They also suggested that Ramirez was responsible for triggering the second confrontation.

Advocacy groups condemned the verdict and sentences, and called on the Department of Justice to bring federal hate crime charges against the defendants.

"The meager sentences handed to the defendants today leaves justice gasping for further redress," said Gladys Limon, staff attorney for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund.

Citing FBI statistics, Limon said that hate crimes against Latinos have risen 40 percent in the last five years and called on Congress to strengthen hate crime laws.

"The failure to hold these defendants responsible for their atrocious crimes denies justice not just to the Ramirez family, but also to the entire community by failing to deter similar crimes in the future," she said.

Richard Cohen, president and CEO of the Southern Poverty Law Center, said the case had troubling implications in the wider context of race relations nationwide.

"Since the year 2000, we've seen a 50 percent surge in the number of hate groups across the country, to a record 926 by our latest count," he said.

"The increase has been fueled by the same factor responsible for the rise in the anti-Latino hate crimes -- a backlash against the changing demographics of our country, a backlash fueled by politicians trolling for votes and pundits looking for ratings."

'Historical Keepsake Photo'

(click if you wish to enlarge)

(My blog title is the same title as the email; I am NOT trying to be funny..)

(CNN) -- The chairman of Tennessee's Democratic Party wants a Republican legislative aide fired for sending out a "reprehensible" e-mail depicting President Obama as two cartoonish white eyes peering from a black background.

Obama's image is in the last square of a collage containing portraits of the previous 43 U.S. presidents. Copies of the e-mail were posted on the Internet on Monday.

Sherri Goforth, an administrative assistant to state Sen. Diane Black, R-Gallatin, has admitted she sent the e-mail May 28 with the title "Historical Keepsake Photo." She said, without elaborating, that she mistakenly sent it "to the wrong list of people."

According to The Tennessean, a Nashville newspaper, a note on the e-mail said it was paid for by the Tennessee Republican Party, but GOP officials denied that they produced it. Black chairs the Senate Republican Caucus.

"I want people to know that the communication was sent without my knowledge, and that ... this does not reflect my beliefs or my values or my opinions, and I won't tolerate those kind of communications coming from my office," Black told CNN affiliate WKRN-TV in Nashville.

Black rebuked Goforth but didn't dismiss her.

CNN left phone messages Tuesday for Goforth and Black.

"Is this indicative of what Senate Republicans think about our commander in chief?" asked state Democratic Party Chairman Chip Forrester in a statement posted on the party's Web site.

"I am calling on Senator Black to reject this racist smear and fire this staffer who, on state government time, on state government computers, using a state government e-mail account, launched this bigoted attack on our president," Forrester said. "Keeping her on the staff would send the message that this type of behavior is condoned by the Senate Republican Caucus."

"This e-mail is reprehensible, insults the office of the president, and is embarrassing to all Tennesseans regardless of political party," Forrester said.

Goforth told Christian Grantham of the Web site Nashville Is Talking that she had received a letter of reprimand from her superiors but will remain on the job.

Grantham said Goforth told him she felt "very bad about accidentally sending it to the wrong list" of people.

"I went on the wrong e-mail and I inadvertently hit the wrong button," Grantham quoted Goforth as saying. "I'm very sick about it, and it's one of those things I can't change or take back."

Forrester, in his Web posting, said, "Ms. Goforth does not seem to understand what she did wrong. She has apologized for 'sending [the e-mail] to the wrong list of people.' I believe that any list of people would have recognized this e-mail as offensive and hateful."

State Rep. Johnny Shaw, D-Bolivar, a member of the black and Democratic caucuses, told WKRN-TV that Goforth should be fired.

"I don't think a reprimand is enough. I think this lady needs to go. I don't think she should be a part of the people who represent the state of Tennessee," Shaw said.

He told CNN that Goforth and Black, as well as Republican Lt. Gov. and Senate Speaker Ron Ramsey, should make public apologies for the incident.

"I am appalled. It's despicable. It's disgusting. It should not have happened but it does happen," Shaw said. "It is the president of our country that we're talking about."

Forrester added: "Unfortunately, Sherri Goforth's e-mail joins the list of shameful episodes by Tennessee Republicans, from the infamous 'Birds of a Feather' direct-mail piece that featured black crows with the heads of Barack Obama and [African-American] Rep. Nathan Vaughn, to the "Barack the Magic Negro" song that former Tennessee GOP Party Chairman Chip Saltsman sent to RNC members during his failed campaign for RNC chair."

Holocaust Museum Closed in Tribute to Slain Guard

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum remained closed Thursday, its flags lowered to half-staff in tribute to a security guard gunned down by a man authorities identified as a rifle-wielding white supremacist.

Later in the morning, the Metropolitan Police Department; the D.C. office of the FBI; the U.S. attorney's office and other federal and local officials will hold a news conference to discuss charges against the accused gunman, 88-year-old James von Brunn of Maryland.

The gunman entered Washington's crowded and solemn Holocaust museum on Wednesday afternoon and shot security officer Stephen Tyrone Johns. Other guards then shot and wounded the gunman, authorities said.

A six-year veteran of the museum's security staff, Johns later "died heroically in the line of duty," said Sara Bloomfield, director of the museum.

"Our thoughts and prayers go out to Officer Johns' family," the museum said.

Von Brunn is a Holocaust denier, well-known to human rights groups for decades, who created an anti-Semitic Web site called "The Holy Western Empire." The Southern Poverty Law Center, which focuses on human rights, said von Brunn has "an extremely long history with neo-Nazis and white supremacists."

He has repeatedly claimed "The Diary of Anne Frank," an iconic diary written by a teenage girl who was hiding from Nazis with her family, was a hoax. The guard died on the day the museum was to stage a play based on Anne Frank and two days before what would have been her 80th birthday.

Investigators found a notebook in the suspect's car listing other locations in Washington that he might have considered as targets, a federal official told CNN.

Von Brunn entered the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum at 12:50 p.m. Wednesday and immediately shot Johns with a rifle, said Chief Cathy Lanier of the District of Columbia's Metropolitan Police Department. Two other security guards returned fire, according to Lanier and the museum statement.

Sirens blared as emergency vehicles converged on the area, which is near the Washington Monument and other popular tourist attractions. The museum was full at the time, with a "couple of thousand" people inside, said William Parsons, chief of staff at the museum.

Von Brunn served six years in prison for trying in 1981 to kidnap Federal Reserve Board members because of high interest rates. He blamed his prison term on a "Negro jury, Jew/Negro attorneys" and "a Jew judge," he said on his Web site, "Holy Western Empire."

One of many questions is whether von Brunn, as a convicted felon, should have turned in his weapons or been barred from owning them.

The U.S. Park Police has asked the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to trace the firearm, an effort that is expected to provide its original sale and ownership.

An FBI official said there was no warning or threat against the museum.

Both Johns and von Brunn were taken to George Washington University Hospital, said D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty. Johns died at the hospital. Von Brunn was in critical condition, Fenty said.

Johns, 40, was a resident of Temple Hills, Maryland, according to a statement issued by Wackenhut Services Inc., which has provided security services at the museum since 2002.

"Obviously there are no words to express our grief and shock over the horrific event that took place at this museum today," Bloomfield, the museum director, said.

The Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups, said von Brunn has "an extremely long history with neo-Nazis and white supremacists."

Witnesses to the shooting described blood on the floor and chaos within the museum's halls.

Visitor Maria Hernandez told CNN she heard five shots and saw the wounded security guard.

"It was definitely a security guard; he was down bleeding on the floor," said Hernandez, 19. "He was face down. His back ... blood was coming out."

Sirens blared as emergency vehicles converged on the area, which is near the Washington Monument and other popular tourist attractions. The museum was full at the time, with a "couple of thousand" people inside, said William Parsons, chief of staff at the museum.

"Never take your guard force and security people for granted," he said. "They did exactly what they were supposed to do to protect people in the museum."

Dave Pearson, a sixth-grade teacher in the Washington area, said he was on the museum's fourth floor when he heard a loud noise.

"At the time, we're visiting and all of a sudden there's like a boom, and all of a sudden they told us to stop where we're at," he told CNN. "Only thing we heard was a boom, and that was it."

The shooting sent shock waves throughout the nation's capital and elsewhere.

"I am shocked and saddened by today's shooting at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum," said President Obama, who just days earlier had spoken emotionally about the Holocaust when he visited Buchenwald, a former Nazi concentration camp with Holocaust survivor and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Elie Wiesel.

"This outrageous act reminds us that we must remain vigilant against anti-Semitism and prejudice in all its forms," Obama said Wednesday. "No American institution is more important to this effort than the Holocaust museum, and no act of violence will diminish our determination to honor those who were lost by building a more peaceful and tolerant world."

Israel issued a statement through its embassy, expressing sadness and condemning the attack.

The Anti-Defamation League said the shooting "reminds us in the starkest way where the spread of hatred can lead."

Happening "at the very place that was created to remember and teach about evil in the world," the attack "is an immediate reminder that words of hate matter, that we can never afford to ignore hate because words of hate can easily become acts of hate, no matter the place, no matter the age of the hatemonger."

The Council on American-Islamic Relations condemned "this apparent bias-motivated attack" and said it stands "with the Jewish community and with Americans of all faiths in repudiating the kind of hatred and intolerance that can lead to such disturbing incidents."

The museum canceled a performance scheduled for Wednesday night of a play about racism and anti-Semitism, based on a fictional meeting between Anne Frank and Emmett Till, the teenage victim of a racist killing in the United States.

Attorney General Eric Holder and Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tennessee, were among those planning to attend the play, which was written by Janet Langhart Cohen, the wife of former Defense Secretary and U.S. Sen. William Cohen.

Langhart Cohen told CNN that Anne Frank's young life was ended by people filled with hate. She said it was hard to see that same hate manifest itself at this place of remembrance.

Authorities Hunt for Man Charged With Threatening Obama

(CNN) -- Federal authorities are searching for a man who has at least eight guns registered to him and has threatened to kill President Obama.

The man, identified as Daniel James Murray, is charged with making threats against the president of the United States.

He recently withdrew $85,000 from a Utah bank and told a teller: "We are on a mission to kill the president of the United States," according to court papers.

Murray is originally from New York, but was seen several times in late May in St. George, Utah, making bizarre statements at a bank.

According to a criminal complaint filed in federal court in Utah, Murray opened an account at Zions First National Bank on May 19 with a $85,000 check.

"With all this mess going on under President Obama with banks and the economy, I'm sure if citizens happen to lose their money, they will rise up and we could see killing and deaths," he said, according to the criminal complaint.

On May 27, he returned to the bank and tried to withdraw $12,000, but lacked proper identification.

"Not to be disrespectful, but if I don't get this money, someone is going to die," Murray said, according to the criminal complaint.

A bank manager was summoned and Murray was allowed to withdraw the money without proper identification.

Murray would not accept a check and demanded bills no larger than $50, the complaint says.

"We are 94 million miles from the sun, and are in between the sun and moon, and the eagle that flies between them and it's a giant step for mankind. ... I have traveled thousands of miles to be here and know things that are going to happen. ... the banking system will fail and people will die. ... there will be chaos in the world," Murray said.

He then made his threat against the president, the complaint says.

The next day, Murray returned to the bank, withdrew the rest of his money and closed the account.

Authorities do not know where Murray is and said he has been seen driving a blue 2001 Buick LeSabre with New York license plate number ERL 1445.

There are at least eight guns registered to Murray, including semi-automatic pistols and revolvers.

The president is on an overseas tour, having given a major foreign-policy speech in Egypt addressed to Muslims worldwide. He is now in Germany.

NO MURDER CONVICTION In Immigrant's Beating

POTTSVILLE, PA (CNN) -- A fomer Pennsylvania high school football player was acquitted of murder Friday in the beating death of a Mexican immigrant last summer.

However, a Schuylkill County jury found Brandon Piekarsky and Derrick Donchak guilty of simple assault stemming from the death of Luis Ramirez, who died of blunt force injuries to the head after a fight with the defendants and their friends.

Donchak, 19, was also found guilty of providing alcohol to the group of teens that encountered Ramirez the night of July 12 on a residential street in the rural mining town of Shenandoah.

Both teens were acquitted of ethnic intimidation charges.

Prosecutors alleged the teens baited the undocumented Mexican immigrant into a fight with racial epithets, provoking an exchange of punches and kicks that ended with Ramirez convulsing in the street, foaming from the mouth.

He died two days later in a hospital in Danville.

Piekarsky, 17, had faced a charge of third-degree murder for allegedly delivering a fatal kick to Ramirez's head after he was knocked to the ground. He also was found not guilty of ethnic intimidation, aggravated assault and attempting to solicit a cover-up.

An all-white jury of six men and six women heard from several prosecution witnesses, including a juvenile co-defendant and another teen who pleaded guilty in federal court for his role in the fight.

While the jury heard conflicting accounts about who initiated the encounter or delivered the final kick to Ramirez's head, defense lawyers attempted to place the blame on another co-defendant, who is facing charges in juvenile court, and Colin Walsh, who has pleaded guilty to violating Ramirez's civil rights.

The juvenile admitted on the stand to shouting "go home you Mexican [expletive]" after the first fight dispersed, prompting Ramirez to turn back and attack him.

The juvenile's testimony was corroborated by Walsh, who admitted to punching Ramirez and knocking him to the ground after he charged the juvenile.

Both witnesses said Piekarsky delivered the final blow to Ramirez's head while he was on the ground, but others testified that they couldn't be certain who had actually kicked him.

The incident drew national attention to the small town of Shenandoah, highlighting issues of race relations.

Jury Has Case of Teens Accused In Immigrant's Fatal Beating

POTTSVILLE, Pennsylvania (CNN) -- A Pennsylvania jury began deliberations Friday after hearing closing arguments in the trial of two high school football players accused in the beating death of a Mexican immigrant last summer.

Brandon Piekarsky, 17, is charged with third-degree murder, ethnic intimidation and other offenses for the death of Luis Ramirez, who died of blunt force injuries to the head after a fight on a residential street in the rural mining town of Shenandoah.

Derrick Donchak, 19, is charged with aggravated assault and ethnic intimidation for his alleged role in the July 12 melee, which prosecutors say was racially motivated.

Schuylkill County prosecutors said the defendants and their friends encountered Ramirez after a night of drinking while the undocumented Mexican immigrant was walking a female friend home.

A physical altercation ensued and ended. But as Ramirez was walking away, someone in the group shouted racial epithets, prompting Ramirez to resume a fight that ended with him convulsing in the street and foaming from the mouth, according to prosecutors.

He died two days later in a hospital in Danville.

An all-white jury of six men and six women heard testimony from several prosecution witnesses, including a juvenile co-defendant and another teen who pleaded guilty in federal court for his role in the fight.

Piekarsky allegedly kicked Ramirez in the head after someone else knocked him to the ground, exacerbating head injuries he'd suffered in the initial fall. Donchak was accused of cursing at him and punching him during a confused tangle of punches, kicks and racial slurs.

While the jury heard conflicting accounts about who initiated the encounter or delivered the final kick to Ramirez's head, defense lawyers attempted to place the blame on co-defendant Brian Scully, who is facing charges in juvenile court, and Colin Walsh, who has pleaded guilty to violating Ramirez's civil rights.

Scully admitted on the stand to shouting "go home you Mexican [expletive]" after the first fight dispersed, prompting Ramirez to turn back and attack him.

Scully's testimony was corroborated by Walsh, who admitted to punching Ramirez and knocking him to the ground after he charged Scully.

Both witnesses said Piekarsky delivered the final blow to Ramirez's head while he was on the ground, but others testified that they couldn't be certain who had actually kicked him.

The incident drew national attention to the small town of Shenandoah, highlighting issues of race relations.

The defendants face prison time if convicted of the top charges.