Two black teenagers were found guilty of murder Friday in the shooting of a white man who was flying a Confederate flag in the rear of his pickup truck. A third black teenager was acquitted.
Freddie Morrow and Damien Darden, both 18, were immediately sentenced to life in prison for the 1995 slaying of 19-year-old Michael Westerman, who was shot from a moving car.Judge Robert Wedemeyer, presiding at the non-jury trial, convicted the two men of murder, civil rights intimidation and attempted kidnapping.
Marcus Merriweather, 16, was found innocent of the same charges.
"They deserved to die," said Westerman's widow, Hannah, 21.
Morrow's mother said the judge's ruling was as good as a death sentence for her son. "He's better off dead if he has to spend the rest of his life in prison," Cynthia Batie said.
Prosecutors said the three teen-agers were angered by the Confederate banner flying from Westerman's pickup when it stopped at a Guthrie, Ky., convenience store.
According to testimony, the youths rounded up two other carloads and followed Westerman and his wife.
"Everybody in the car with me was talking about the flag," Morrow testified Thursday.
Morrow said his group had planned to stop Westerman and his wife and fight the man. But as the vehicles drew even, his friends cried, "Shoot! Shoot! Shoot!" and he fired into Westerman's pickup.
Westerman's widow testified that she switched places with her mortally wounded husband and guided their four-wheel-drive pickup through ditches and into a parking lot.
She said three black men approached the truck, and she raced back onto the highway and drove to a hospital in Clarksville, though Springfield was nearer. Her husband later died.