Three months after Anne Arundel County prosecutors dropped murder
charges against four white men in the fatal beating of a black teenager
last summer, a grand jury yesterday indicted the men - and two others -
on manslaughter and other counts stemming from the July brawl. Anne
Arundel County State's Attorney Frank R. Weathersbee announced last
night that identical indictments had been returned against the six in
the death of Noah Jamahl Jones, 17, of Pasadena. All surrendered to
police last night and were arrested. The charges brought both
disappointment and relief to Robin Jones, the victim's mother. She said
"a weight has been lifted off" her family, although she had wanted the
grand jury to reinstate the first-degree murder charges and add a
hate-crime charge. "It's not what I was hoping for. I was happier when
it was first-degree murder because I do believe that it was
premeditated," she said. But, she said, she and her family are
satisfied with the manslaughter charges and will steel themselves for
what they expect will be an emotional trial. The case spurred a federal
civil rights probe and led to escalating racial tensions in the
Pasadena section of Anne Arundel County. [more]
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