Shooter cites discrimination as cause and effect
In riveting testimony in his manslaughter trial Friday, John White tearfully vowed that Daniel Cicciaro Jr.’s death was a tragic accident, colored by the fears and experiences of a black man whose family was once targeted by the Ku Klux Klan.
“I didn’t mean to shoot this young man,” White, 54, said, sobbing as he stood before a Riverhead jury. “This young man was another child of God.”
White is charged with second-degree manslaughter for acting recklessly when he shot Cicciaro, 17, in the face in front of White’s Miller Place home on Aug. 9, 2006. Cicciaro and four teenage friends had gone to White’s Independence Way home to confront his son Aaron, 17, who Cicciaro accused of threatening to rape his female friend. The accusation turned out to be false
White began his testimony Friday with stories of growing up poor in Brooklyn and hearing tales from his Southern grandparents about having their business burned down by the KKK. He remembered encountering racism for the first time when, while traveling to the South by train, his family was ordered to leave the sleeper car once the train passed the Mason-Dixon Line.
“I was 4 or 5 years old, so I couldn’t read. So my mother would have to hold my hand and show me which fountain I could go to,” a soft-spoken White said.