March protests acquittal, dropped charges in slaying
John A. Rooney Jr.
More than 100 people marched across the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Bridge that links Petersburg and Colonial Heights, where the Braswells lived.
PETERSBURG -- A March for Justice rally drew more than 100 people yesterday amid criticism of an acquittal and dropped charges in the shooting death of a popular Petersburg businessman three years ago.
Slain businessman Robert L. Braswell Jr.'s family organized the afternoon march to the Petersburg Police Department in response to the June 1 acquittal of one of four defendants charged in his slaying and last week's decision by a special prosecutor to drop charges against two other defendants scheduled for trial this month.
Braswell's relatives say they are determined to see convictions in the case.
"Anger," said widow Rhonda Braswell, when asked her reaction to news of the dropped charges.
Marching across the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Bridge that links Petersburg and Colonial Heights, where the Braswells lived, Braswell said she hopes to send a message that the case can't be swept aside.
"The rational person in me understands" that it will take time, she said. "The wife part of me who suffers every day doesn't because justice isn't being done."
While not expressly describing the court proceeding as racially biased, Braswell said only one white person sat on the jury, and she questioned the decision to turn over prosecution of the case to an outside prosecutor from another jurisdiction, who is white. Petersburg Commonwealth's Attorney Cassandra Burns is black.
Braswell also claimed that a total of four jurors fell asleep during the trial; she said she saw two doze off and that other relatives saw another two fall asleep.
Assistant Dinwiddie County Commonwealth's Attorney Nelson Fisher, who was appointed special prosecutor in the case, dropped charges against two other defendants last week, saying that the not-guilty verdict against key defendant and admitted crack-cocaine dealer Antoine D. Mylar, 29, of Hopewell pointed to difficulties in the case.
Fisher said last night that no trial date has been set for the fourth co-defendant, Shelly Grey, 49. Mylar's defense lawyer described her testimony in his case as not credible and inconsistent.
Fisher said the shift in prosecution to his office was prompted in part because Grey had once received help from Petersburg's victim-witness assistance program, which is operated by the commonwealth's attorney's office.
Fisher said a perception of a conflict of interest could have developed if Burns' office had tried the case.
Robert Braswell, 43, was shot to death in front of his business, Lowry Tire, on North Crater Road as he opened for business Nov. 9, 2006. The first arrests in the high-profile case came two years later.
Robert Braswell's youngest sister, Stacy Galle, and stepsister, Carrie Hubert, have said family members are considering asking for federal help in prosecuting the case as a hate crime if it stalls in Petersburg.
Rhonda Braswell, marching with her three daughters yesterday and an all-white following of supporters, said she is still stunned by the loss of her husband to such violence.
"The shop closed the day he died and never re-opened," she said. She continues to work as a bookkeeper but has had to sell the family home.
"It's been devastating for us," she said.
Contact Bill McKelway at (804) 649-6601 or
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Reader Reactions
datony
First of all- I do not have to “get over” anything- as far as hurting your feeling-sounds like you have NONE! Karma? The only “karma” is you see a black man killed and you enjoy seeing a white one in his place-killed. The case in Powhatan is not even close to what happened in Petersburg. What does a feud between two people knowing each other have to do with a businessman in the area for 30 yrs getting attacked and killed by criminals? NOTHING! In your mind if they are black-they’re innocent and white- pay them back for slavery. Racism is also thought as as the whites doing something against the blacks. Racism goes BOTH ways! If Mr. Braswell had been black and the thugs were black- who would you say was to blame? Me- I would side with ANYBODY who was robbed and killed due to no fault of their own- just trying to make a living. You want to make everything black or white. It should be who is the victim and who is the criminal. Get over your own prejudices and listen to facts. I feel sympathy for ANYONE who dies. If the feuding two in Powhatan could have stayed away from each other long enough- they probably would have realized they had a long life to live and all that happened was senseless. Think before you talk- and yes- the jury was ASLEEP according to the article- MOST of them- still PATHETIC!!!!!
wow Tamatha1….i wish i could say that my feelings were hurt,but they’re not so oh well,get over it….and you said that it takes a very sorry person to make the victim look like they were responsible, i agree with you totally…but i said it once and i will say it again,karma has a way of making people looking at things from different perspectives…unless you are as ignorant as you are or obxgirl lol…..i can imagine that you, like many other individuals that share your limited point of view, already have your opinion about people from certain socio-economic backgrounds already established without knowing the first thing that goes on. and if they should get another trial, then so should the taliaferro family, their case was a mockery of justice just as much as this case. I also think that it is amusing that you find me and L.Johnson to be ignorant, cold, and made to cast doubt on the victim…..okay, i guess that i will be that then lol lmao…actually i am far from being cold or hateful…like i said before, it is karma…it is sad that this man’s family has lost their loved one,but just as you are sympathetic to the white community in regards to this event, i am sympathetic to the black community and the obvious racism and prejudice that has existed for years after slavery has ended..i haven’t forgotten that we are living in the capitol of the confederacy so i am not surprised at some of the idiotic remarks that are made by the people on these posts, you included…..and i am sure the jurors were awake, they might’ve been high but they were awake, about as awake as the people in the trial in powhatan.
stunned,
You and your family has suffered a TRAGIC loss- the jurors were to say the least- PATHETIC! This was not a trial- this was an insult to a human being making an honest living by criminals who waited for their prey. I sincerely hope that the march helped. As far as the comments made by L. Johnson and datony-they are IGNORANT, COLD, and obviously made to cast doubt on the victim, Mr. Braswell. They know as well as anyone reading the article that he was attacked by these WORTHLESS thugs robbed and killed. It takes a VERY SORRY person to turn the tables and make the victim look like he was responsible for his own death!!!They are not so ignorant that they do not know how to do this- the oldest con in the world. I hope your family finds justice. They should get another trial by jurors who ARE AWAKE and actually care what is going on. It does not sound like it would be in Petersburg-as that example has already been made. The authorities should send it to Colonial Heights-where the jurors would actually BE AWAKE. I wish all of you the BEST OF LUCK!!
As far as the article written about the march, the reporter is the one who skewed it to sound racist. We did not organize an “all white” march. We organized a march for justice. My family is not racist or prejudice and we don’t appreciate being depicted as such. Of course the media loves to do this because it makes stories get more attention because it is such a touchy subject. If you take the time to look up a hate crime you would also see that it is not a crime against another person just because of race. Of course that’s what everyone ASSumes but that is not the case.
For all of you speculating on why Robert Braswell was robbed and insinuating that he owed drug money and that’s why he was robbed and shot is the furthest from the truth you could possibly be. Nowhere in any news story ever has there been any suggestion that he owed them drug money so where do you come up with that theory?? My brother did NOT use amd never did use drugs. Yes he was going to work, which I know a lot you probably don’t know anything about, and he was shot as soon as he got out of his truck. These people just wanted money to go smoke crack again and after they shot and killed my brother, they removed money from his pocket and went and bought and then smoked crack according to one of the witnesses. You two want to argue about ignorance and you both are if you think that he was a druggie or owed them any money. Why don’t you BOTH get your facts straight before making such ridiculous comments!!! If you did any research at all you would see my family had that business in that location for over 30 years. We can’t help that the area just got worse and worse until the violence spilled over onto the property and one of our family members was so cruelly and coldly taken from us.
athinker(of ignorance obviously) for of all, there are going to be similiarities drawn in the two cases for a number of reasons and if you continue to read this post, you will see that i am not the only one that is seeing them…and to say that taliferrro was the aggressor? please, yeah the aggressor that was shot in the back while driving away…they should’ve been found guilty and for more time than they received, but never fear, they will be taken care of in the fine Va.Dept of corrections….and dont you find it ironic that he was opening his business and he was robbed of crack, but there are no convictions? what does that tell you about the victim? since you want to paint a negative picture about this black man(taliaferro) and try to validate the sentence the defendents received in that case, why dont you do the same for this individual that was shot? and yeah, i am saying karma is something else and just as you are saying that this is an obvious reason for a mistrial, the same can be said about the taliaferro case…..and they should investigate BOTH cases…and as far as my grammar goes…it’ll be aight lol lmao at u clown
Hey Johnson you don’t think he was on them guys payroll ?
L Johnson..
I’m going to ignore the first sentence of your last post, because you started it with the words “I think” when you clearly don’t.
As for “mixing with the drug crowd”; you can’t help that if you are standing anywhere near the moral abyss that is the City of Petersburg. There is nothing redeeming about the city. The schools are a joke and the crime rate is appalling. It would seem that the residents of Petersburg not only tolerate it, they encourage it by not enforcing the law.
Stereotypes exist only because people live up to them.
All you need to know is… out of 132 school districts in Virginia Petersburg is ranked 132 (Schooldigger.com). They are the worst in the state. This is where the Police hire from and where the jury is selected from. If you live in Petersburg (and can read this) save yourself and leave NOW!
I think Mr. Braswell owed them money from a previous crack cocaine advance. I guess that’s what happens when you mix with the drug crowd.
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