ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, February 28, 1997 TAG: 9702280095
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: FAYETTEVILLE, N.C.
SOURCE: Associated Press
A white former paratrooper faces the death penalty after being convicted Thursday of hunting and killing a black couple in a racial killing that set off a nationwide outcry over extremists in the military.
James N. Burmeister, 21, was found guilty of two counts of first-degree murder and conspiracy in the shootings of Jackie Burden and Michael James on Dec. 7, 1995.
Jurors were to hear more evidence today before recommending the death penalty or life in prison.
The victims' mothers split on whether Burmeister should be executed.
``He has the heart of cold steel, and God help him,'' said Lillie James, who said she didn't wish to see Burmeister get the death penalty.
Mary Lou Burden, however, raised her arms in victory outside the courthouse and said she hopes the jury sentences her daughter's killer to death.
``I'm so happy ... I can't talk, I'm so happy,'' she said.
Burmeister showed no emotion as the guilty verdicts were read, but his mother, Kathy, sobbed in the row of seats behind him.
Prosecutors contended that Burmeister killed the couple on a dirt road near downtown Fayetteville for no other reason than to earn a tattoo that was a symbol among racist skinheads at nearby Fort Bragg that the wearer had killed a black person.
``The animal who took the lives of these two people executed them in as cold-blooded a manner as is possible,'' prosecutor Ed Grannis told the jury during closing arguments Tuesday.
The slaying prompted an Army-wide investigation that found little evidence of extremist activity in the service. However, the probe did turn up 22 soldiers at Fort Bragg, all white men and including Burmeister and the two other soldiers charged in the killings, with ties or sympathies toward extremist groups.
LENGTH: Short : 47 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. James Burmeister, 21, a former Army paratrooper,by CNBlistens as he is convicted of two counts of first-degree murder in a
Fayetteville, N.C., court Thursday. At right is his attorney, Larry
McGlothlin.