Black Protest Leader’s Son Acquitted of Burning Down School

A black protest leader’s son was acquitted Friday of burning down a rural high school whose white principal had condemned interracial dating at the prom.

The federal jury of eight whites and four blacks took less than four hours to find 25-year-old Christopher Lynn Johnson not guilty of arson and possession of a destructive device--a bag soaked with lighter fluid.

Johnson’s lawyer had suggested that the principal himself, Hulond Humphries, had set the 1994 fire that destroyed Randolph County High School in Wedowee, population 800.

Upon hearing the verdict, Johnson closed his eyes and leaned back with relief. Members of his family wept quietly, and a supporter exclaimed “Yes!” while clenching his fist.

Johnson refused to comment later, telling reporters, “Y’all have dogged me enough.” The former poultry plant worker, who did not testify, could have received 30 years in prison.

U.S. Atty. Redding Pitt said that he believed the evidence was compelling but that he would not second-guess the jury. He would not comment on whether the investigation remains open or authorities have other suspects.

At the trial, Johnson’s ex-wife, to whom he was still married at the time of the fire, testified that she found a bag soaked with lighter fluid at their home the night before the blaze and that it was gone the next night.

Also, a friend of Johnson’s, David Garrett, said Johnson had told him beforehand that he was going to burn the school and boasted about it afterward.

Garrett, who didn’t believe the boast, testified that Johnson retorted: “If you don’t believe me, watch the 10 o’clock news.”

The school was plunged into months of racial turmoil when Humphries threatened to cancel the prom if interracial couples planned to attend. He was also accused of referring to a mixed-race student as a “mistake.”

Humphries later backed off his threat and said he was simply worried about violence at the prom. He denied making the “mistake” remark.

By the time the school burned to the ground, the U.S. Justice Department had renewed a desegregation suit against the school system, and the mixed-race student had received $25,000 in a settlement of her lawsuit accusing Humphries of humiliating her.

The Justice Department eventually reached a settlement in which Humphries was removed as principal and put in charge of the school rebuilding.

During the trial, prosecutors tried to show that the self-styled Black Panther Militia chapter formed by Johnson’s father, the Rev. Emmett Johnson, during the uproar over Humphries could have stirred incendiary impulses.

The defense had seized on evidence pointing instead to Humphries, who bought five gallons of gasoline two or three days before the blaze and took some records from the school just before the fire broke out.

In addition, FBI agents said that Humphries, under questioning, twice made a comment that was something like “when I started the fire.” But the agents dismissed his remarks as slips of the tongue.

Humphries took the stand and tearfully denied he had anything to do with the blaze.