Black Judge Picked to Preside in Racial Attack Case

A black state Supreme Court judge has been selected to preside over the trial of seven men charged in the racial killing of a black youth during an attack by a white gang in Brooklyn, officials said Thursday.

The selection of Justice Thaddeus Owens, 70, bypassed the normal selection process because of the unusual sensitivity of the case, said Matt Crossen, chief administrator of the New York Courts.

But Crossen said the fact that Owens is black had “absolutely no impact” on his decision.

“There are rare cases in which public attention is so intense that the proceedings will create a lasting perception of the criminal justice system by the way the case is handled,” he said.

Most of the defense attorneys in the case were not immediately available for comment, but one said he had no objections to Owens and another called the selection “unfair” and “insensitive.”

Yusuf Hawkins, 16, was shot to death as he and three other black youths were attacked Aug. 23 when they went to the predominantly white Bensonhurst neighborhood in Brooklyn to look at a used car.

The four were mistaken for friends of a young woman who reportedly had jilted one of the attackers and began dating black and Latino men.

Owens, an Arkansas native, is considered a tough jurist who runs a firm courtroom. Earlier this year, in a case involving the torching of a synagogue, Owens told a packed courtroom his uncle had been the victim of a lynch mob.