The Nation - News from Dec. 13, 1987

The jury in the Howard Beach trial reheard testimony by a witness to the beating of a black man by a group of whites. Theresa Fisher said she was visiting her sister in the Howard Beach section of Queens last Dec. 20 when she saw a dozen white youths beat a black man, identified as Cedric Sandiford, with bats, tree limbs and a tire iron. Her testimony also is critical to establishing a time sequence used by the prosecution to implicate the four defendants. Two are charged with murder and two with manslaughter in the death of Michael Griffith, 23, who was killed when he ran onto a busy freeway and was hit by a car. Sandiford publicly praised Fisher, who is white, for her testimony, saying: “There are still good people in New York City.” The jury was sequestered for the night and will resume deliberations at noon today.