Though the murder case against John Tavo Leota - who began serving a year sentence Friday in the Salt Lake County Jail - has ended, the civil war it has created will likely continue for several months.
It has raged from the entertainment world of Los Angeles County to the Utah State Capitol and the halls of justice.In its wake, it has pitted prosecutor against prosecutor, Polynesians against blacks, and the victim's family and friends against the state of Utah.
"I knew it was going to have a life of its own," said prosecutor Kent Morgan on Friday. "But I didn't anticipate that people would bring so many issues into it that didn't have anything to do with the case. And I didn't think the issues would rise to the allegations of bigotry."
Here's a recount of the major events of the Leota case:
Concerns of equal protection
When Leota, 18 at the time, was arrested in the death of Malik Smith, also 18, many were concerned that prosecutors might "overcharge" the victim, bowing to pressure from civil rights groups, such as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, which made its presence known from the beginning.
Leota is Tongan. Smith, the son of Hollywood actress Beverly Todd and producer Kris Keiser, was black.
With the approval of County Attorney David Yocom, prosecutor Kent Morgan filed a second-degree murder charge, which was disputed privately by several other prosecutors, who argued that most fistfights resulting in death are charged as manslaughter cases, seldom as murders.
Though defense attorney Phil Hansen fought vigorously to have the charge reduced, the victim's family was pleased with the murder charge, which carries a 5 year-to-life sentence, and remained silent as the case proceeded through trial.
Verdict outrages family
On Dec. 7, an 8-member jury refused to convict Leota of murder, finding him guilty instead of negligent homicide, a misdemeanor punishable by a year in jail.
"Fair-minded Utahns are concerned, embarrassed and aware," Keiser said the day after the verdict. "There are now two reasons to remember Dec. 7 - Pearl Harbor Day and the miscarriage of justice perpetrated on our son."
Keiser and Todd called a press conference at the State Capitol to condemn what they called were "gaps" in the Utah homicide statute. They also successfully solicited state Rep. Joanne Milner, D-Salt Lake, to draft a bill to present to the upcoming Legislature that would make negligent homicide resulting from an assault a third-degree felony.
Whoopi cries foul
In the weeks that followed the press conference, dozens of friends and associates of the victim's family directed a letter-writing campaign aimed at 3rd District Judge Homer Wilkinson and the Salt Lake newspapers.
Academy Award nominee Whoopi Goldberg wrote in a letter that she "will spread the word of the dangers that lurk in your beautiful state."
Some letter writers broached the issue of racism, saying Smith would have been sentenced to death if he had killed Leota.
Others suggested that they will organize a campaign against Utah's bid for the Olympics.
"I certainly didn't expect it to lead to the politics of the Olympics," prosecutor Morgan said. "That's preposterous."
Polynesians protest On Thursday, the evening before Leota was to be sentenced, the Salt Lake Polynesian community called a news conference to protest the letter writers, calling them "wealthy Hollywood blacks," and the attempts to change Utah law.
"These Hollywood blacks are racists who would like to see a Polynesian treated differently and perhaps more severely than others under our laws," said attorney Paul Schwenke, a Samoan.
One prosecutor told the Deseret News, "I wonder if this is going to increase tensions between the blacks and Tongans in this community."
A moderate sentence
Saying he has not been influenced by the letter-writing campaigns or press conferences, Wilkinson sentenced Leota on Friday to one year in jail, the maximum sentence for the homicide conviction. The judge also ordered Leota to pay a $2,500 fine and an yet-to-be determined amount in restitution.
Wilkinson could have tacked on an additional six months for a second conviction of simple assault, but chose to place Leota on a year's probation at the end of the one-year term.