A day after acquitting Jacob Tyler Fortney of manslaughter and related charges in the death of Noah Jamahl Jones, two members of the jury – who spoke on the condition of anonymity, saying they feared for their safety, among other concerns – contended that Anne Arundel County prosecutors failed to offer a convincing argument.
The outcome in the racially charged case upset some students at Northeast High School – which Fortney, 19, had attended and where Jones would have been a senior this year – as well as leaders in the African-American community.
Yesterday, the Anne Arundel County branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People said it intends to press the U.S. Department of Justice to complete a civil rights probe the organization successfully sought last year and to file federal charges against Fortney.
Justice Department officials did not return a phone call.
During the trial, the key prosecution witness, Joshua David Bradley, said he saw Fortney run and jump onto Jones’ face, and later heard him gloat that “I crushed his head.” A few weeks afterward, Bradley testified, Fortney bragged that the leap earned him the nickname “Air Jordan.”
But two medical experts – one for the prosecution and one for the defense – said they saw no injuries to Jones to substantiate a claim that a 200-pound man stomped on Jones’ face.
In closing arguments, Deputy State’s Attorney William D. Roessler said Fortney delivered a soccer-style kick to Jones’ head, but the two jurors said they did not believe the changed explanation.
“There should have been at least a broken nose, some facial injuries,” one juror said. “And then all of a sudden it turned into a kick to the side of the head. Their witness said it was a leap, a jump. How do you think about that, all of a sudden it’s different?”
The second juror called the soccer kick explanation a “good try.”
Jurors knew that Bradley agreed to testify in exchange for prosecutors’ dropping charges.
David W. Fischer, one of Fortney’s lawyers, said he believed that medical professionals contradicting Bradley’s account was crucial to the acquittal.
Prosecutors stood by Bradley’s testimony.
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Roessler said he thought his soccer kick explanation fit perfectly.
“I honestly think that is what happened in the case,” he said.
Both jurors in the all-white panel said race did not seem to play a part in the fatal fight, with one noting that guests of the white party host included black youths. But some in the black community, including the victim’s mother, believe race was a motivator. Robin Jones has said that her son’s interracial relationships had kindled animosity.
The six men charged in Jones’ death are white. Jones was black, as are the three friends with whom he arrived at an outdoor party to retrieve another friend they believed was in danger from Fortney’s group. Two members of Jones’ group are charged with having weapons.
No hate crime has been alleged, and the lead detective testified that he did not find a racial motive.
In a statement released yesterday, some NAACP court observers said they didn’t think Anne Arundel County States Attorney Frank R. Weathersbee’s office vigorously prosecuted the case.
Robin Jones said she was not pleased either. “I know they did hard work on this case, but I don’t think they took the best route,” she said.
But Weathersbee countered that his office did the best it could with the available evidence and that it is often difficult for victims, witnesses and others close to a case to see it objectively.
Weathersbee said he will decide, probably next week, whether to proceed with the other four manslaughter cases.
In the community, fears of violence remained, with police reporting general threats. Officers were highly visible in Pasadena Thursday night and yesterday, especially around Northeast High School.
Students leaving school yesterday afternoon said the day went smoothly, including at lunch, where some noticed “a lot more people in suits than usual,” said junior Ginger Melchor, 16.
Earlier in the day, students appeared unsure what the reaction to the verdict would be.
Many students – black and white – expressed disappointment about the jury’s decision. Some knew Jones and said someone should be held responsible for his death.
“I was pretty upset about his death,” said Alex Scheeler, 16, who is white.
Scheeler said that the racial components surrounding the prosecution of Jones’ death were “a little overblown.”
David Holland, 25, who is black and lives near the high school, said the sense of frustration among blacks is real.
“We let the system handle that,” he said. “But the system didn’t handle that.”
That perception is worrisome to Carl O. Snowden, a leader in the African-American community and an aide to the county executive. He said he has heard some young people contend that the justice system is whitewashing Jones’ death.
“I am more concerned that you have a lot of people who have absolutely lost faith in the judicial system,” he said.
Sun staff writer Phillip McGowan contributed to this article.
<!– ART CREDITSTEVE RUARK: SPECIAL TO THE SUN
ART CREDIT–> <!– CUTLINE TEXTSeniors Denise Wright, with a photo of Noah Jamahl Jones on her notebook, and April Greene walk to school at Northeast High a day after the acquittal.
CUTLINE TEXT–> <!– ART CREDITSTEVE RUARK : SPECIAL TO THE SUN
ART CREDIT–> <!– CUTLINE TEXTAnne Arundel County police stand outside Northeast High School as students arrive yesterday, as concern about possible violence spread after a white teen was acquitted in a black student's death.
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