Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Nuvo Continues Coverage Of Dexter Lewis Case

The brutal hate crime beating of Dexter Lewis, an African-American male, at the hands of three white men associated with the Vinlanders, a local skinhead organization, continues to warrant coverage by Indianapolis' alternative weekly newspaper, Nuvo, but not the Indianapolis Star. Nuvo's Wayne Bertsch provides this update on the case:

The wheels of justice inched forward last week when members of the Vinlander Social Club appeared in Marion County court.

The defendants, Eric Fairburn, Josh Kern and Timothy Dumas, appeared at a pre-trial hearing before Judge Tanya Walton-Pratt. The three are charged with assaulting Dexter Lewis, a black male, in downtown Indianapolis on March 26, 2007. (NUVO “Hate Crimes in Indiana,” June 20, 2007; www.nuvo.net/articles/hate_crimes_in_indiana)

According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, the Vinlanders are “a skinhead warrior clan devoted to drinking and fighting.” Co-founded by Fairburn in 2004, the group maintains an Indianapolis “clubhouse” on the 2500 block of English Avenue, the primary residence of Fairburn and Dumas according to court documents.

Despite record-high temperatures, Kern and Dumas, both out on bond, appeared in court wearing long-sleeved shirts that hid the racist tattoos that cover their arms. Fairburn, who remains in police custody, was unable to obscure his numerous tattoos in his prison-issue orange jumpsuit.

Dumas has a tattoo of the symbol of Hitler’s Waffen SS while Kern and Fairburn each have the number “28” tattooed on top of their heads. The 28 stands for the second and eighth letters of the alphabet, short for “Blood & Honour,” the European racist organization with whom the Vinlanders align themselves. Fairburn also has a large tattoo of the word “MURDER” across his throat.

Mark Inman, the public defender representing Fairburn, requested and was granted a continuance to allow time to depose witnesses to the assault, who allege that they were threatened with death if they called the police. Depositions will be taken Sept. 21. A jury trial is scheduled for Oct. 15.

I just don't get the Star's editors. They seemed determined to slant the paper's news coverage to avoid boosting the case for the passage of hate crimes legislation in Indiana, a proposition its editors oppose, even if it means ignoring a victim like Dexter Lewis. Hats off to Nuvo for keeping the spotlight on cases like that of Dexter Lewis and Aaron Hall.

9 comments:

Wilson46201 said...

It's beautifully ironic that the judge is an African-American woman ...

Anonymous said...

I don't get it what is so ironic about the judge being an African - American woman. Are you intimating that she'll give preference because of her race?

Wilson46201 said...

The 3 defendants might have been expecting preference based on their race ... Judge Walton-Pratt will be very objective.

Anonymous said...

These three need to go away for a long time....a very long time....

Anonymous said...

LOL, Wilson. Injecting race into the argument...and implying he's close to the judge...who, by the way, likely thinks he's a goof.

Gary, stop worrying about the Star's editors and writers. There are so few good ones left, it's become an Indy McPaper.

I expect nothing from them. When they hit an occasional triple or home run, it's a pleasant surprise.

Lower expectations, less heartburn.

Anonymous said...

Get a grip.

The Star didn't cover it because nobody was killed. They hardly even cover all homicides adequately, it's not much of a paper.

Nuvo covers it because they are "progressive", meaning Marxist. Hate Crimes legislation is Marxist in the sense that it seeks to punish one for having certain thoughts. Thus the absurdity of a recent case whereby desecration of a Koran was categorized as a hate crime, though no actual crime took place - no person was hurt, just a book.

I don't like criminals either, and I would guess they picked out Dexter Lewis because he was black, but to punish them more because of the difference in skin color gets the judiciary into social engineering. Which is what Nuvo wants.

Lots of white kids who attended an IPS high school can tell you about the high rate of black on white beatings that go on in those horrible places. I never saw a black person start a fight with a white person. I myself was beat up simply for being white.

The greatest joke god has played on us is making our skin in different colors, we are all the same underneath.

Anonymous said...

7:07, practice what you preach. Gertting a grip would be a good idea for you, too.

Instead of throwing out generalities like the IPS slam, put forth some specifics.

The incidence of opposite-race violence in IPS is likely equal to or less than that of many township schools. Any violence is too much, but how about some proportionality, huh?

I'm no huge IPS fan, mostly because they bleed cash and have no common fiscal sense. But damn, cut some slack with the urban legend. It's borderline racist.

Anonymous said...

you forget to print what lewis did to deserve this...

Anonymous said...

How about an update on this trial? If the media isn't covering it, this is one of the only places to find out if justice was served.
I'll bet the trial has some humor involved. 3 defenseless retards claiming they were threatened by a 100 lb. homeless man.