The Price of a Punch
East Texas Jury Awards Mentally Challenged Black Man $9 Million for Beating at Hands of White Youths
By JIM AVILA and TERI WHITCRAFT
ABC News Law and Justice Unit
April 21, 2007 — - For most of his life, Billy Ray Johnson, a 42-year-old mentally challenged man who loved to dance and always wore a smile, could be found hanging out by the old courthouse on the square in the East Texas town of Linden.
That was before he was beaten and left for dead in a ditch by four white men who were half his age. The assault damaged Johnson's brain, but his attackers were given a slap on the wrist -- 60 days behind bars for one; 30 days for the others.
Yesterday, after four years and two criminal trials, Johnson finally got justice. After deliberating for 3½ hours in the old Linden courthouse, a jury of 12 awarded Billy Ray Johnson the biggest verdict the town had ever seen: $3 million for his past and future medical care, and $6 million for pain and suffering.
"I think this jury told us that whether you are rich, poor, black or white … handicapped or not … you stand equal in the face of the law," said Morris Dees, co-founder of the Southern Poverty Law Center, who represented Johnson pro-bono in the civil trial.
(Continued here.)
By JIM AVILA and TERI WHITCRAFT
ABC News Law and Justice Unit
April 21, 2007 — - For most of his life, Billy Ray Johnson, a 42-year-old mentally challenged man who loved to dance and always wore a smile, could be found hanging out by the old courthouse on the square in the East Texas town of Linden.
That was before he was beaten and left for dead in a ditch by four white men who were half his age. The assault damaged Johnson's brain, but his attackers were given a slap on the wrist -- 60 days behind bars for one; 30 days for the others.
Yesterday, after four years and two criminal trials, Johnson finally got justice. After deliberating for 3½ hours in the old Linden courthouse, a jury of 12 awarded Billy Ray Johnson the biggest verdict the town had ever seen: $3 million for his past and future medical care, and $6 million for pain and suffering.
"I think this jury told us that whether you are rich, poor, black or white … handicapped or not … you stand equal in the face of the law," said Morris Dees, co-founder of the Southern Poverty Law Center, who represented Johnson pro-bono in the civil trial.
(Continued here.)
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