
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 26, 1993                   TAG: 9305260238
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: DAVID REED ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: CHARLOTTESVILLE                                LENGTH: Medium

FRAT MEMBERS CLEARED IN ATTACK

Six white University of Mississippi fraternity members were cleared of assault charges Tuesday after a judge questioned whether they were involved in an alleged mob attack on a black bar manager.

Howard Weinberger testified that he was chased into an alley behind the bar and attacked by about a dozen Ole Miss students who shouted racial slurs at him while punching, kicking and spitting on him.

Eric Campbell, the bar's bouncer, said he was punched and accused of being a "nigger lover" when he went to help Weinberger.

But between them, they could identify just four of the defendants in the courtroom Tuesday as being the ones who allegedly attacked Weinberger, who suffered numerous minor injuries.

Defense attorneys agreed there was a brawl outside the bar near the University of Virginia campus, but denied that it was racially motivated. They said the six defendants were mistakenly identified.

"If there were exchanges of a racial nature, that was unfortunate, but it had nothing to do with this case at all - it was a typical street fight," defense attorney Murray Janus of Richmond told the judge.

Several Kappa Sigma members said a few fraternity members who fled the scene and were never charged were the ones who fought with Weinberger, and the witnesses said the manager threw the first punches outside the bar.

Before dismissing the charges, General District Judge William Barkley said a group photo of the fraternity members showed "any number of them look alike."

Barkley said it's also difficult to pick people out of a crowd immediately after an emotional scene like the one outside Crazy Charlie's Bar and Grill about 8 p.m. on Jan. 22.

`It doesn't mean they're lying," the judge said of the bar employees' identifications.

The defendants were among about 25 fraternity members on a traditional trip to Kappa Sigma's national headquarters at the University of Virginia.

The fracas began after the visiting students had been drinking for an hour or two at Crazy Charlie's. There was a dispute over the payment of a bar tab, and Weinberger said he was knocked out the front door by a "sucker" punch to the face after he asked the fraternity members to leave.

Campbell said he caught the person who hit Weinberger after he fled to a parking area, but he let him go when he saw Weinberger was being attacked in the street. That person, identified by his fraternity brothers Tuesday as a member of the fraternity, fled the scene and was never charged.

The misdemeanor assault charges were dismissed against Brooks C. Kirkland, 19, of Jackson, Tenn.; David W. Barnett, 18, of Natchez, Miss.; Robert E. Tolleson Jr., 19, of Brentwood, Tenn.; Michael C. Weber, 19, of Baton Rouge, La.; William "Trey" Herron, 19, of Brandon, Miss.; and Stephen M. Gaia, 19, of Memphis, Tenn.

by CNB