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Aug 10, 2009 12:01 pm US/Central
Woman Sentenced In Arlington Hate Crime Case
FORT WORTH (CBS 11 NEWS/AP) ―
A white woman in North Texas has been sentenced in a hate crime case against her black neighbor.
Monday a Tarrant County jury sentenced Grace Head to the minimum term of 180 days in jail and a $4,000 fine.
On Friday jurors convicted Head of hitting her neighbor, Etha Kay "Silk" Littlejohn, in the face with a board and jumping on a car after yelling racial slurs and threats. The events occurred in December of 2007.
Assault with bodily injury and criminal mischief are misdemeanors. But they were elevated to state jail felonies after jurors decided that the 67-year-old Arlington woman targeted her victim because of her race.
During the trial Littlejohn testified about her injuries and Head's behavior during the incident. At one point Littlejohn told the jury about Head jumping on top of her vehicle. "When she went to sit down on the hood, she started chasing the dog and throwing rocks at him."
Two days after the attack, racist graffiti was spray-painted on Littlejohn's garage door, which she and her fiancé refused to paint over for months.
Mental health experts had testified that Head has bipolar disorder, but jurors rejected the insanity defense.
(© 2010 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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