One of the truisms I often quote is that Ohio is really a southern state … that just happens to be located in the north. Nothing brings that point home stronger than the recent conviction of two young black college students from Cleveland down in Portage. Both were sentenced to 15 years to life in the death of a white college kid who died after a drunken brawl.
Adrian Barker and Ronald Kelly were convicted separately because of what can only be described as a lynch-mob mentality that Portage County Common Pleas Judge John Enlow allowed to permeate both trials — which, by the way, were in front of all-white juries.
“I respect the jury’s verdict, but I’m disappointed,” said Kelly’s attorney Greg Robey after the decision was read. But he also stated that he will never give the prosecution “the gift of surrender. This fight will carry on. And you can underline never.” Barker’s attorney is also appealing his conviction.
Kelly, Barker and Glen Jefferson Jr. (who is white) all were students at the University of Akron. They were leaving a frat party on the campus of Kent State when words were exchanged between them and four equally inebriated Kent students when Jefferson’s car allegedly almost hit the group, which consisted of Christopher Kernich and three of his friends. A fight broke out, blows were exchanged, and Kernich was knocked to the pavement and hit his head; he died six days later either from that trauma, or, as the prosecutor alleges, from being kicked by Kelly, Barker, or Jefferson — or all three. But the fact is, as with any drunken brawl, witness testimony is conflicting and nothing from this point on is certain.
But what is certain is that Jefferson, the white guy, whom witnesses said took part in the melee, wasn’t even arrested that night … and he later agreed to testify against Kelly and Barker. His trial, on lesser charges, begins in August.
The entire criminal justice apparatus — from the police who initially investigated the case, to the detectives who took the case over, to the prosecutor who tried it — appears to be prejudiced at best and racist at worst … no other words can describe their collective behavior. The system broke down under the weight of race, and yet the trial Judge did nothing to stop it. The legal mob ruled.
Certainly the family of the dead man, Christopher Kernich, deserves justice — but the question remains, was justice served, or was this something else?
Now, for just one moment reverse of the races of the participants in this tragedy: Imagine that the man who died was black, and the alleged perpetrators were white. Would they have been charged with a lesser felony, more in keeping with the facts of a street brawl gone bad? And even if convicted, would have been sentenced to 15 years to life had they been white? Indeed, would they have even been convicted at all in Portage County Ohio, which, I need not remind you, happens to be a southern state located in the north?
From Cool Cleveland correspondent Mansfield B. Frazier mansfieldfATgmail.com. Frazier’s From Behind The Wall: Commentary on Crime, Punishment, Race and the Underclass by a Prison Inmate is available again in hardback. Snag your copy and have it signed by the author by visiting http://www.frombehindthewall.com.
11 Responses to “Mansfield: Something Stinks In Portage County”
Deb
I believe there is more to this than a simple brawl that ended in a death. It was a hate crime. There were things on the internet from the boys convicted who made statements and posted comments about whites and how they needed to all die. This is serious crime and thankfully was not taken lightly. If the situation were reversed and 2 white boys killed a black boys and made the same type of statements, I would expect the same punishment.
Deb
I do believe it is unjust that all three were not tried equally if they all committed the same act. That I agree with you wholeheartedly.
Jason
What is not stated here is that the black boys participated in the fight. They could have walked away or somehow avoided it, but they did not. If you participate in violence, you must accept the consequences, intended or unintended. If you put yourself in those situations, bad things can happen. Plain and simple. People have to start taking responsibility for themselves and not allow themselves to be put in those situations.
Derek
Jason, that fact was stated. Adrian Barker and Ronald Kelly did participate in the fight. They were a party to the death of Christopher Kernich. However, so did Glen Jefferson, Jr. He was a party to the same incident but he got different treatment. Is it because Mr. Jefferson was white and Mr. Barker and Mr. Kelly were black? Did any of them have more or less adequate counsel?
The problem that Mr. Frazier has with this whole situation is that there are inconsistencies in the treatment of the men on trial.
I agree with you on the point that they definitely deserved punishment because they shouldn’t have been fighting. This is often a dangerous byproduct of when alcohol and short fuses mix.
When a trial is not executed fairly, the courts have run afoul of what is right which is why we are punishing the guilty in the first place.
Andrea
Well said Derek!
It is terribly unfortunate that there are commonly such inconsistencies in the treatment of men on trial.
Some will claim that race has nothing to do with it, but really how could the be the case when that is the only know difference amongst the offenders?
Sadly our courts are many times at fault for being unjust. : (
Carolyn
it was a racist trial and all of the witnesses that testified were friends of the deceased that lied and changed their stories from the original ones that were told at the scene.
Carolyn
why did the media leave out things in their columns that would have shown that maybe Ronald was not guilty,ex. taped phone call by Jefferson to his mom telling her of a deal he received for testifing for the prosecutor?
Carolyn
Jason, are you saying that only the black boys[they are really men] participated in the fight, were they fighting themselves, should the actions of the white boys[men] go unpunished,
Natalie
I am a Southerner living in Cleveland for the past 4 years. During that time, I have experienced more racism than I ever experienced living in the South for 35 years. I get so tired of ignorant black people trying to throw the South under the bus while they allow white people to treat them like animals. Downtown, I have seen black men have water thrown on them by white managers of a chain store I will not name. I have never witnessed this kind of behavior in the South. While working and attending school here, I have personally been privy to the “Ask a N..” game and was interrogated every time I and any other black female in sight changed our hair. Again, this behavior is not prevalent in the South. I didn’t understand when I first got here why black people spoke about race so much. I thought that they were being paranoid. Before moving to Ohio, I never saw KKK members before. Finally, it is ironic that in one of the most segregated cities in North America, the author has the nerve to pretend that there is only racism in the South. I think he should just write his editorial and leave the value judgements about a region he obviously knows nothing about for his private conversations.
Mansfield Frazier
Thanks Natalie for proving my point, that Ohio can be just as racist as the south.
Your mistake is to think that I have not lived in the south (as well as the north, east and west). I will suggest that my experiences in America far exceed yours, plus I’m not trying to defend the honor of the regions I’m from … facts be damned.
My point is, blacks cannot receive fair and equal treatment from the judicial system anywhere in America … no matter the region.
Carolyn
it is an absolut disgrace to all who died fighting for equal rights that even now in 2010, blacks are not treated equally, not only in the work place, justice system, it seems no place else. in this case, i have an extreme problem with ronald being convicted when the DNA proved otherwise. this i really don”t understand except that a whyite man is dead and they wanted the only two black men present to pay for his death