North Carolina v. Wright (5/97) Malcolm Wright, a former paratrooper, was accused of first degree murder and conspiracy in the deaths of Jackie Burden and Michael James. Wright allegedly killed the victims because they were black. Prosecutors said that Wright, 23, and James Burmeister, 21, were racist skinheads who killed Burden and James solely because they were black. The state argued that while Burmeister was the trigger man, Wright was also guilty of murder because he encouraged and aided Burmeister. Burmeister was convicted in February, 1997 of two counts of first-degree murder and one count of conspiracy. He was sentenced to life in prison without parole after the jury deadlocked 11-1 in favor of the death penalty. He was also sentenced to 196 months to 245 months for conspiracy. According to the state, Burmeister, Wright and Randy Lee Meadows, 22, were members of the elite 82nd Airborne Division based at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. On Dec. 6, 1995, the three got together at Burmeister's trailer and began to drink heavily. While at Burmeister's trailer, the three talked about spider web tattoos and Wright allegedly told Burmeister that one earned the tattoo by killing a black person. By the end of the evening, Burmeister said he wanted to try to earn his spider web tattoo. The three decided to head to downtown Fayetteville allegedly in an attempt to find and harass black prostitutes and drug dealers. Prosecutors say that they were looking for a black person in a dimly lit area, where they thought their victim would be more vulnerable. The state claimed that the three encountered an African-American couple walking down a dimly lit street. Burmeister asked Meadows to circle around the block so they could see the couple again. Burmeister and Wright got out of the car. Meadows said he heard gun shots several minutes later. Meadows said he subsequently had a conversation with Burmeister in which he said that he fired shots and threw the gun to Wright, but Wright refused to fire and threw the gun back to him. The victims were walking down a street in a low-income neighborhood near downtown Fayetteville when they were gunned down. Burden was shot once in the back and three times in the head. James, the older brother of Burden's boyfriend, was shot twice in the head. Burden, 27, was unemployed at the time of her death, but she thought about becoming a nurse's assistant, according to her family. James, 27, an unemployed welder, had recently been released from prison for a drug-related conviction. Family members say that he attempting to reconcile with his wife and children and hoping to get his life back on track. Meadows pleaded guilty to a lesser charge in exchange for his testimony against Burmeister and Wright. He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit assault with a deadly weapon and two counts of accessory before the fact to the felony assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury. During Burmeister's trial, Meadows was the star witness for the prosecution, claiming that Burmeister admitted to the shooting. He also painted Burmeister as a racist who was growing increasingly violent in the months before the murders. The Charges Wright was charged with two counts of first-degree murder and one count of conspiracy to commit murder. Wright's trial was moved from Fayetteville to Wilmington because of the intense publicity surrounding Burmeister's case. The Prosecution's Case Prosecutors presented evidence of Wright's racial hatred toward blacks. A key piece of evidence was an undated handwritten letter by Wright detailing his hatred of blacks and other non-whites. The state also found evidence of hate-filled CDs, known as "stomper" music and 19 copies of a pamphlet called the "White Genocide Manifesto" found in his locker. Prosecutors also pointed to the spider web tattoo on Wright's arm as further evidence of his racial hatred. None of the prosecution's physical evidence appeared to incriminate Wright. The physical evidence included Burmeister's 9mm semi-automatic gun that police discovered under Burmeister's bed, Burmeister's fingerprints on five beer cans found in Meadow's car near the crime scene, and blood found on clothes belonging to Burmeister. The Defense's Case The defense argued that Wright was not guilty since he was not aware that Burmeister was going to kill the couple. The defense maintained that Wright did not intend for the murders to occur and did not agree to help commit the murders. Wright thought he and Burmeister were going to hassle black people, as they had on other occasions. At most, the defense argued, Wright was guilty of ethnic intimidation, a misdemeanor that makes it a crime to assault someone because of their race. The Judge Coy Brewer Jr., has been the senior resident Superior Court Judge in the 12th Judicial District since 1990. Previously, Brewer was an assistant district attorney in Cumberland County, North Carolina from 1974-76, a district court judge from 1976-77, and a superior court judge from 1977-1990. He received his law degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1972. The Defense Paul Herzog joined the Fayetteville public defender's office in 1979 and was appointed the head of the office by Judge Coy Brewer in 1993. Herzog held that position until January when he went in to private practice. He has previously tried eight or nine capital cases, and according to Herzog, one of the defendants was sentenced to death. Herzog received his law degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1978. Jonathan Broun joined the Fayetteville public defender's office after graduating law school in 1981. He left the public defender's office in 1995 to join the Center for Death Penalty Litigation. He has previously tried four capital cases, with two ending in death sentences and the others in life sentences. Broun received his law degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The Verdict On May 2, 1997, the jury found Wright guilty of two counts of first-degree murder and one count of conspiracy to commit murder. The jury decided against the death penalty on May 12, 1997 and recommended that Wright be sentenced to life in prison.