White Mississippi teen pleads not guilty in black man’s death | The Raw Story: A white Mississippi teenager pleaded not guilty on Friday to a capital murder charge stemming from the fatal hit-and-run of a black man in a motel parking lot.
A judge ordered Deryl Dedmon, 19, to stand trial on January 9 and gave prosecutors until November 1 to decide if they will seek the death penalty in the case, court administrator Karla Watkins said.
Dedmon is accused of running down James Craig Anderson, a 49-year-old Nissan autoworker who was returning to his car before dawn on June 26 when he was confronted by a group of white teenagers in a motel parking lot.
Video of the incident, caught by a hotel security camera, has been played on cable television news, and the FBI was investigating the case as a possible civil rights violation, which can include hate crimes.
