The Price of a Punch

East Texas Jury Awards Mentally Challenged Black
Man $9 Million for Beating at Hands of White Youths

By JIM AVILA and TERI WHITCRAFT

ABC News Law and Justice UnitBilly Ray Johnson, right,
suffered brain damage in a savage attack by white youths.
(ABCNEWS.com)

April 21, 2007 — - For most of his life, Billy Ray Johnson, a 42-year-old mentally challenged man who loved to dance and always wore a smile, could be found hanging out by the old courthouse on the square in the East Texas town of Linden.

That was before he was beaten and left for dead in a ditch by four white men who were half his age. The assault damaged Johnson's brain, but his attackers were given a slap on the wrist -- 60 days behind bars for one; 30 days for the others.

Yesterday, after four years and two criminal trials, Johnson finally got justice. After deliberating for 3½ hours in the old Linden courthouse, a jury of 12 awarded Billy Ray Johnson the biggest verdict the town had ever seen: $3 million for his past and future medical care, and $6 million for pain and suffering.

"I think this jury told us that whether you are rich, poor, black or white … handicapped or not … you stand equal in the face of the law," said Morris Dees, co-founder of the Southern Poverty Law Center, who represented Johnson pro-bono in the civil trial.

A Gentle Spirit

Those who knew Johnson before the attack describe a gentle soul with a weak mind.

"Billy Ray was a loving, caring person. He was a happy person. He loved dancing, he loved imitating driving cars," said Lenda Beecham, Johnson's first cousin. "Billy Ray would do anything you asked him to do. Anything. He thought everybody loved him. That's why he would take the chance to go anywhere with anybody."

An Invitation to a Beating

On Sept. 28, 2003, Johnson was waiting for a ride at the Country Store when 19-year-old Wes Owens invited him to a "pasture party" at his nearby farm, promising free beer. Johnson agreed to go -- but only after Owens promised to bring him back later.

What Johnson didn't know was that he was the evening's entertainment. His love of music, and dancing -- heartfelt to him -- was comical to others, and the young white men gathered around the bonfire that night wanted Johnson to dance. As the beer flowed, the night turned ugly.

"They tried to get him to pick up hot sticks from the fire, they had him dancing a jig to a song," said Dees. "They were calling him funny names. They gave him a beer and then some guy knocked the beer out of his hand."

In an exclusive interview with ABC News Law and Justice Unit, Wes Owens described the scene: "[Johnson] said he'd leave when he finished his beer, and that's when [Dallas] Stone knocked the beer out of his hand, [saying] 'Your beer is through, now you can leave.'"

Owens said that's when Colt Amox -- a former high school pitcher -- drew back and threw a sucker punch that Johnson didn't see coming. A second later, Johnson was flat on his back.

Old Dump Road

For the next hour, Johnson lay on the ground, unconscious and bleeding from his mouth, as the four young men debated what to do.

"Now he's been down there, on this cold ground, nobody's put a blanket on him, a jacket on him, or take him to a warm car," said Dees in his opening arguments. "And finally, [Corey Hicks] says, 'Let's throw this n----- in a ditch.' … So Amox and Owens grabbed him, just about how you drag a dead dog, they grabbed one by the feet, one by the arms and pitched him up into the truck. That's probably how he broke his collar bone that night."

With Johnson's unconscious body in the bed of a pickup, a caravan of three trucks drove along the pitch black East Texas roads. When they reached Old Dump Road, they stopped, and put Johnson on the ground next to some old tires. Then they drove away.

"There was a lot of tension, lot of fear and a lot of lack of good judgment -- alcohol -- and like I said, nerves, being scared," said Wes Owens. "My biggest regret is just not taking more action as far as Billy Ray's concerned … stepping up when a man would've stepped up, and say, 'Okay, this is enough.'"

For several hours, Johnson lay on the ground, shivering in the cold, barely breathing, his pulse rate low. The next morning, when paramedics responded to the scene, they discovered that Johnson had been placed on a pile of fire ants -- aggravating his condition with more than 200 bites. He nearly died and suffered permanent brain damage.

A Slap on the Wrist

At first, it seemed the attackers might go unpunished. When anonymous calls alerted the police that something terribly wrong had happened to Johnson, the attackers conspired to concoct a lie. When they were arrested and charged with aggravated assault, their defense was self-defense. Johnson, they claimed, was the aggressor.

In the criminal trials that followed, Owens and Stone pled guilty, offering state's evidence. All four attackers were convicted of assault by omission -- or in less legal terms, not helping him. Their punishment was 30 to 60 days behind bars.

"The initial verdict sent a message that things hadn't changed much in the Deep South when a poor, powerless black person faces popular, well-entrenched white establishment," said Dees. "They should have gotten 20 years in prison. … That's what most people would have gotten in this case, had the facts been shown."

Johnson's Day in Court

This past week, Dees and his team from the Southern Poverty Law Center tried to right what many considered a devastating wrong. Over four days, they grilled the defendants, offering expert medical testimony along with new witnesses who testified about the attack and the cover-up.

Before the civil trial, Owens and Stone settled, but Hicks and Amox were found responsible. In a multi-million dollar verdict that will take care of Johnson for the rest of his dark nights in East Texas, the jury gave 9 million reasons why a beating of an innocent black man should never happen again.

Juror Lacretia Hefley said the jury wanted to send a message "that this was not acceptable -- that in this day and age that we need to have come to a point that color does not matter -- not right or wrong but just that it does not matter at all. … And by saying this we are saying that Billy Ray deserved better than this … and these young men took that away from him."

"People like Billy Ray have the same rights and should have the same opportunity to receive justice as everyone else," said Dees. "We hope it is a message to people that hold the power … that when you do injustice to people like Billy Ray, you do an injustice to the whole community and the whole system."