PLEASE STOP THE VIOLENCE!!!!!!
Current mood: awake
It is hard to imagine that in this age two young white men could troll around town looking for an African-American to kill just so they could say they had done so. Charged as a capital defendant for his role in the killing that resulted, appellant Alex Witmer plea-bargained to avoid the death penalty. The trial court sentenced him to the maximum term of years. Among other aggravating circumstances, it found that the perpetrators' racial animus was a grounds for enhancing the sentence. We agree that racial motivation can be an aggravating circumstance, and we affirm the sentence.
Statement of Facts
Alex Witmer committed robbery and murder in one two-year period. On March 25, 1998, sixteen-year-old Witmer pointed a gun at Preston Hall in Elkhart County during a "drug deal gone bad." Initially, Hall thought that Witmer was playing around, but Witmer pointed the rifle at Hall's throat and stated, "Give me your damn wallet." (App. at 53.) Hall complied, and Witmer took the wallet, which contained money. The State thereafter charged Witmer with robbery on September 30, 1998, though it did not serve the warrant until November 1999.
Almost one and a half years after the robbery, Witmer, who had turned eighteen picked up Jason Powell and drove to the Pierre Moran Mall. Witmer had a .22 caliber rifle in his car. As they rode about town, Witmer and Powell discussed shooting an African American to earn a tattoo of a spider web. Witmer told Powell that one earns the tattoo by killing a black person. Powell expressed an interest in "earning" the tattoo, and Witmer "called him on it," meaning "put up or shut up." (GPR at 24.)
As they drove around the mall, Witmer and Powell noticed seventeen-year-old Sasezley Richardson walking through the Sears parking lot. (GPR at 25.) Neither of them knew Richardson. Powell told Witmer to drive towards Richardson. Witmer drove close to the victim as Powell picked up the rifle and began to shoot. Powell fired ten to twelve shots at Richardson. As they abandoned the scene, Witmer looked into the mirror and saw the victim fall to the ground. Witmer and Powell drove away, without rendering any aid. Richardson died from a gunshot wound to the head.
Witmer drove Powell home and then returned to his house. He later took the rifle used in the shooting to his younger brother, who dismantled the gun and threw it in the river behind his father's house.
