Youth Apologizes, Gets Shortest Term in Racial Death

After apologizing in court and begging the judge for mercy, Jason Ladone, the last of three defendants convicted in the Howard Beach racial attack case, was sentenced Thursday to 5 to 15 years in prison.

The sentence, although substantial, was lighter than those given to previous defendants, Jon Lester and Scott Kern, both 18.

State Supreme Court Justice Thomas Demakos had sentenced Lester to the maximum of up to 30 years in prison and Kern to 6 to 18 years for their parts in attacking three black men and pursuing one, Michael Griffith, to his death in traffic in December, 1986.

But when Ladone, 17, their companion in the attack, appeared before Demakos for sentencing, he was nervous and apologetic.

Addresses Victim’s Mother

Ladone read a prepared statement and addressed his remarks directly to Griffith’s mother, Jean, who sat in the courtroom.

“I am sorry, Mrs. Griffith, for your senseless loss,” Ladone said, before telling his own parents, “I’m sorry, mom and dad, that your lives have been so violently overturned.”

Ladone, who was 16 at the time of the attack, the youngest of the three convicted white teen-agers, added he had done “some serious growing up” since.

Ladone said he had had no desire to hurt anyone that night. But, when he and a group of white teen-agers encountered three black men whose car had broken down near Howard Beach, epithets were hurled, then violence ensued.

Youths brandishing tree limbs and a baseball bat chased Griffith onto a highway, where he was struck by a car. Later, Cedric Sandiford, 37, one of Griffith’s companions, was severely beaten.

Mind ‘Bent on Violence’

Demakos said that Ladone’s character had been “exemplary” before the Howard Beach incident. But, on the night of the attack, the judge added, Ladone showed a mind “that was criminal and bent on violence.”

“This cannot go unpunished,” Demakos said, noting that the youth had participated both in the pursuit of Griffith and the beating of Sandiford.

The judge then sentenced Ladone, who had been found guilty of assault and manslaughter, to two consecutive terms of 2 1/2 years to 7 1/2 years in prison for each felony.

As he left the courtroom and waved to supporters, Ladone’s family and friends from Howard Beach applauded.

Of his apology, Mrs. Griffith said: “I hope that he said it from his heart and not just from his lips.”