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Porter Protest Hits Courthouse

Herbert Hollingsworth and a dozen other individuals stood outside the Hillsborough county courthouse with signs protesting the Jennifer Porter sentencing.

VICTOR JUNCO

By ANTHONY McCARTNEY amccartney@tampatrib.com

Published: Nov 15, 2005

TAMPA - -- Nine days after a controversial sentencing in the Jennifer Porter hit-and-run case, community activists looked for ways to reconcile outrage with reality.

A group of about 20 people spent the morning protesting outside the courthouse where Porter was sentenced Nov. 5 to house arrest, probation and community service after leaving the scene where two children died in a March 2004 accident.

While the protesters vented frustration at the sentence and discussed how they would like to see Porter punished with prison time, another group looked beyond the case.

Local leaders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People outlined plans to improve access to legal resources and educate the public about the justice system. Among the plans:

•Host a public forum Dec. 1 addressing the verdict.

•Recruit volunteers to monitor and collect data about racial disparities in court cases.

•Publicize resources that can offer free or reduced-cost legal resources.

•Urge federal officials to look into three fatal car accident cases, including Porter's, in which NAACP leaders say race played a role.

As they announced the initiatives, the leaders struck a somber tone, saying once state attorneys and the mother of two children killed in the accident agreed to a plea agreement, Judge Lamar Battles had almost total discretion over Porter's sentence.

"While the incident was tragic, we must move forward," said Pat Spencer, an NAACP director overseeing the Bay area.

To emphasize their assertion that race plays a role in sentencing, NAACP leaders said they want federal officials to look into two Florida cases in which black defendants were imprisoned after accidents where white motorists were killed:

•The 30-year prison sentence given to William Thornton IV, 17, who was involved in a Citrus County accident in which two people were killed in 2004.

•The 15-year prison term given to Jean Claude Meus, a truck driver convicted of two counts of vehicular manslaughter after his rig hit a minivan in 2001.

Much of the NAACP's efforts will focus on the ways race plays a role in how cases are resolved. Curtis Stokes, president of the Hillsborough branch of the NAACP and a former probation officer, said, "I think race does play a strong part in sentencing."

So did many of the protesters standing outside the courthouse Monday morning.

The Rev. James Warren, who said he thought Porter should have been tried for murder, said race and money played a role in Porter's case.

"If it was a poor white girl with a public defender, she'd have gotten three years," he said.