Murder Counts Dismissed in Attack on 3 N.Y. Blacks

A state judge, citing insufficient evidence, Monday dismissed second-degree murder and manslaughter charges against three white youths accused of chasing a black man into the path of an auto, which struck and killed him.

The ruling by Judge Ernest Bianchi sparked an outburst in his courtroom. The case has attracted national attention since the racially motivated attack in Queens on the night of Dec. 19.

“Injustice! Injustice!” some spectators shouted as court officers hustled them from the courtroom. “How the hell can you be a judge?” an irate spectator shouted.

Bianchi retained charges of reckless endangerment against the defendants, saying they acted with “complete indifference.” Reckless endangerment is punishable by up to seven years in prison.

The three were arrested after a gang attack on three blacks whose car broke down near a pizzeria in the Howard Beach section of Queens. One of the blacks, Michael Griffith, 23, was killed as he fled across a parkway.

Bianchi dismissed the more serious charges because the two other blacks, Cedric Sandiford and Timothy Grimes, refused to testify. Their lawyers insist that the two will not testify unless the driver of the car that hit Griffith also is charged.

The case has caused concern about racial attitudes in the predominantly white Queens neighborhood. New York Mayor Edward I. Koch likened the attack to “lynching parties that existed in the Deep South” and called the racial incident one of the worst in the city’s modern history.

When Koch went to a church in Howard Beach Sunday, he was booed and snubbed by irate parishioners. Later, when he visited a church in a predominantly black Queens neighborhood, he received a very friendly reception.

On Monday, Bianchi angrily said that he had to dismiss the charges because “the law is the law. May I call to the attention of those loudmouths (who were ejected) that Mr. Sandiford happens to be a Negro, a black man who did not happen to come in to testify.”

The judge set bail of $25,000 for Jon L. Lester, 17, and $15,000 each for the other two defendants, Jason Ladone, 16, and Scott Kern, 17. Ladone and Kern later posted bond and were released.

At least 10 white youths were reported to have participated in the assault. Prosecutors said several other suspects could not be charged because of Sandiford’s failure to cooperate.

Mayor Urges Testimony

Koch said he was disappointed by the judge’s decision. He also urged Sandiford “and anyone else who is able to be a witness for the purpose of identification” to come forward.

Alton H. Maddox Jr., Sandiford’s lawyer, has accused Dominick Blum, the motorist, of being a willing accomplice of the white youths. He accused Queens Dist. Atty. John J. Santucci of covering up what he claimed was the fact that Blum’s car had been involved in the chase.

Maddox has not produced any evidence to substantiate the allegations, and detectives investigating the case said Blum, 24, a court officer and the son of a policemen, was merely driving along the parkway and was not an accomplice in the attack.

At Monday’s hearing, Detective Peter Fiorillo said Lester told him that the incident began when he and two friends were taking Lester’s girlfriend home from a party. Three black men walked in front of their car and slurs were exchanged.

Lester and his friends dropped the girl off and were on their way back to the party when they saw the blacks at a pizzeria, according to the testimony.

“There are some niggers in the pizza parlor. Let’s go kill them,” Lester recalled saying after returning to the party, Fiorillo said. But he said Lester later told him that “kill” is “a terrible word. I meant to say let’s go fight them.”

He said Lester said 10 to 12 youths got into three cars and caught up with the blacks at the pizzeria.

“They came towards us, and we started swinging,” Lester said, according to Fiorillo.

He said he wrestled a bat from a companion--”I want a piece of the action,” he recalled saying--and hit Sandiford on the arms and head. He did not hit Griffith, he said.

Howard Beach has been quiet since the violence. And, to ensure that there are no other incidents, Koch said Monday that undercover policemen had been sent to the neighborhood to augment an already heavy police presence.

When the mayor visited Our Lady of Grace Roman Catholic Church in Howard Beach Sunday, some parishioners refused to enter. Others walked out. In the kind of white working-class area that has provided an important margin of support for his reelection campaigns, Koch was booed. Some residents accused him of political grandstanding.

Later, there were shouts of “Amen” and applause when the mayor was greeted by black churchgoers at the Morningstar Missionary Baptist Church in St. Albans, Queens.