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Apr 15, 2009 3:38 pm US/Central
No DNA On Truck In Racially Charged Texas Case
DALLAS (AP) ―
Texas prosecutors say they still plan to take to trial a racially charged murder case against two white men accused of running down a black man with a pickup truck, even though they have no physical evidence or eyewitnesses linking the suspects to the crime.
Special prosecutor Toby Shook said this week that forensic testing on the undercarriage of the pickup truck owned by one of the defendants turned up no DNA belonging to the victim.
"But that's not a surprise, considering it had been thoroughly washed," Shook said. Police contend the defendants took the vehicle to a car wash and cleaned it after the incident.
Shannon Finley and Charles Crostley are accused in the death of 24-year-old Brandon McClelland, whose mangled body was found Sept. 16 on a country road near the East Texas town of Paris.
Authorities said McClelland died after the three friends went on a late-night beer run across the Oklahoma border. They argued on the way back about whether Finley was too drunk to drive, and McClelland got out of the car to walk home. Authorities allege that Finley then ran down McClelland, whose body was caught under the truck and dragged about 70 feet.
Ben Massar, Finley's attorney, said the lack of physical evidence indicates the prosecution's "weak case." He also questioned the credibility of one of the witnesses whom police relied on in preparing a search warrant affidavit. That witness told police Finley had confessed to running over McClelland.
"Each day, I am getting more confident that Shannon Finley is not guilty," Massar said. "In the interest of justice, I am hoping this is dismissed prior to trial."
Shook and Massar said there has been no discussion of a plea deal or dismissing charges.
"I am confident in our case and look forward to presenting the evidence to a jury," Shook said.
Both defendants have criminal records, including a 2003 murder charge against Finley that resulted in him pleading guilty to manslaughter. Finley's attorney in the 2003 case was Gary Young, now the Lamar County district attorney. Young recused himself from the case, and Shook was named special prosecutor.
Crostley has a criminal record that includes misdemeanor drug convictions but no violent felonies.
Finley's trial is scheduled for July 20 and Crostley's for Sept. 21. They will be tried separately in Sulphur Springs in Hopkins County, about 40 miles south of Paris, after their trials were moved because of extensive pretrial publicity.
The case was set to be tried in Paris, a town with a history of tense race relations. The courthouse in Paris was the site of a November rally against the county's judicial system that drew about 200 protesters, including members of the New Black Panther Party and the Nation of Islam.
McClelland's family and others have alleged that his death was racially motivated and compared it to the notorious dragging death of James Byrd 11 years ago in Jasper, another East Texas town. Byrd was chained to the back of a pickup truck and dragged about three miles.
Community activists said McClelland's death is one of many events illustrating racial problems in Paris, which is about 73 percent white and 22 percent black. Local activists have alleged unequal treatment for blacks in the judicial system, highlighted by a 2007 case in which a black girl was sentenced to up to seven years in a juvenile prison for shoving a teacher's aide. Meanwhile, the same judge sentenced a white girl to probation for burning down her parents' house.
Last month, civil rights attorneys held a news conference after two black workers at a pipe fabrication facility alleged widespread racism and said supervisors have not responded to complaints about racist graffiti, nooses and slurs.
(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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