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

DATE: SATURDAY, October 23, 1993                   TAG: 9310230212
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Knight-Ridder Newspapers
DATELINE: WEST PALM BEACH, FLA.                                LENGTH: Medium

BLACK-TOURIST ASSAILANTS GET LIFE TERMS

Two white men convicted of dousing a black man with gasoline and setting him on fire were sentenced Friday to life in prison after the victim testified that they had condemned him to a life of pain.

"I just wish it never happened," Christopher Wilson, 32, told a judge in West Palm Beach. "It happened for no reason at all."

Trailer park roommates Mark Kohut, 27, and Charles Rourk, 33, of Lakeland, received the stiffest penalty allowed by law. Hillsborough County Circuit Judge Donald Evans said their attack on the Brooklyn tourist was the most heinous hate crime he had ever seen.

Kohut and Rourk were convicted last month of attempted murder, kidnapping and robbery in the New Year's Day attack.

The two abducted him at a newspaper stand and forced him to drive 16 miles to a remote field east of Tampa, where they taunted him with racial slurs, splashed him with gasoline and torched him with his own cigarette lighter. Yelling "Die nigger die," they drove away, laughing. A note that read, "One less nigger, more to go - KKK" was found at the scene.

Because of the racial nature of the crimes and the physical trauma suffered by Wilson, Evans exceeded state guidelines in Friday's sentencing, giving Kohut life plus 27 years and Rourk life plus 40.

Under the guidelines, Kohut would have received no more than 27 years for attempted murder, armed robbery and kidnapping; Rourk would have received a maximum of 40 for attempted murder, armed robbery and armed kidnapping.

Evans also ruled that the two should be housed apart from the general prison population, away from prisoners who might try to harm them.

The sentences virtually assure that the two will never be released, attorneys said.

"I've never had a client come home from life," said Julianne Holt, the Hillsborough County Public Defender who represents Kohut.

The case's racial overtones are what brought the trial to West Palm Beach in August, when attorneys were unable to seat a Tampa jury. Sentencing also was carried out in West Palm Beach because the judge was required to finish the case in the circuit where it started.

by CNB