ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, April 8, 1996 TAG: 9604080102
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A2 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: NEW YORK
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
More than 11 years after an encounter with four threatening youths transformed Bernhard Goetz from unknown electronics nerd to notorious subway gunman, the $50 million lawsuit filed by one of his victims finally goes to trial this week.
Over that time, the Goetz case was seized by advocates on opposing sides of urban issues: Crime. Race. Gun control. Vigilante justice.
Goetz, acquitted of attempted murder in 1987, spent 81/2 months in jail on a weapon conviction.
A pretrial hearing for Darrell Cabey, who was paralyzed in the Dec. 22, 1984, shooting, was set for today, with jury selection to follow.
Cabey, 30, slipped into a coma after being shot and suffered brain damage. He now has the mental capacity of an 8-year-old.
Cabey's case is simple: Goetz was a racist who overreacted when he needlessly shot the four black youths. After wounding Cabey, Goetz walked up to the bleeding youth and delivered the paralyzing gunshot, announcing: ``You don't look too bad. Here's another.''
Goetz's defense is just as plain: He fired in self-defense when approached by four menacing muggers who tried to shake him down for $5. He declined to expound on that when reached by telephone last week, saying he was too busy to talk.
The two versions have remained constant since Goetz pulled his nickel-plated Smith & Wesson .38-caliber handgun. The familiarity is reflected in Billy Joel's hit song ``We Didn't Start the Fire'' with the lyric, ``Foreign debt, homeless vets, AIDS, crack, Bernie Goetz.''
Goetz, 48, no longer rides the subway and has mostly spurned the spotlight, preferring the solitude of his Greenwich Village apartment.
LENGTH: Short : 42 linesby CNB