Zoot-suited "Sweetback" and "Jelly" — Corey Vaughn-Patterson of Palm Beach Gardens High School and Byron McCarty, William T. Dyer High School grad — bring to life a scene from Zora Neale Hurston's 'Spunk!' during Sunday's Delta Sigma Theta "Salute to the Harlem Renaissance."
Onstage Sunday was a diverse set of young people, students and their mentors, displaying outstanding talent during their “Youth in the Arts” program.
Yet on the minds and tongues of many in the audience were Friday’s gang-rape and assault convictions of two then-teenagers for their shocking actions two years ago at nearby Dunbar Village.
The youths onstage stood out for the skills they had developed in theatre and dance, the visual, instrumental and vocal arts, and for the lives of future hope and fulfilment they represented.
The contrast with the accomplished young artists who filled the stage suggested the need for another renaissance.
The youths who were led from the courtroom Friday, after their multi-count guilty verdicts were read, stood out for the depravity of their sexual assault on a mother and her son, and the possible rest of their lives in prison that they, and an accomplice who pleaded guilty, face when a judge sentences them October 13.
The youths onstage were beneficiaries of support from the parents and teachers who nurtured them, the appreciative audience of community members present to encourage them, and community institutions such as the West Palm Beach Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, which organized and hosted the event, and Palm Beach Community College, on whose north campus the “Salute to the Harlem Renaissance” was held.
Dramatists evoked Harlem's renaissance days.
In contrast is the troubled family circumstances of the convicted youths, the prison inmate families awaiting them, the general societal lack of investment in the possibilities of others like them, and the question whether, had they been gifted with different growing and learning environments, life would have been different for them.
In random conversations through the evening, a guest was overheard saying it long had been clear that one of the convicted youths, unresponsive to school officials’ efforts to help him, had been headed for trouble.
Another guest said to another who said to another that the sexual torment by as many as 10 African-American youths on the Haitian mother and her son, on that sad night at Dunbar Village, unquestionably was a hate crime; Haitians having been considered the lowest of the low when she was growing up here.
In contrast was a another who grew up here: actor, director and business owner Karen Stephens, whose gifted theater students were onstage in the Hurston segment she had produced.
Karen Stephens, third from podium, taking a bow with other directors/artists.
She has shared her thoughtful perpectives in a video interview for WAOD whose third installments continue here:
In previous video excerpts from a wide-ranging WAOD interview, Karen Stephens, who grew up in better times at Dunbar Village, spoke about what it was like then.
Stephens and Juanita Ealey (R) discussing Dunbar Village.
In these subsequent excerpts from her Karma Studio in West Palm Beach, on a Saturday (August 22) afternoon during the two-week (officially seven court days) trial, Stephens, an actor, director and business owner, shared her perspective on the questions:
Every day, Nathan Walker was in Courtoom 11H of the Palm Beach County Courthouse, at the trial of his son of the same name, who was convicted Friday on 11 of 14 counts of burglary, assault, rape and kidnapping in the infamous Dunbar Village sexual attack on a mother and her son two years ago.
In an interview the next day, he described trying hard through the years “to be in son’s life,” while fighting his own drug addiction with the help of Christian-based rehabilitation centers such as the one which which he has been affiliated for years.
Asked his speculation of the mindset of the up to 10, then-teenaged boys whom the mother said brutally tormented her and her child:
“I really can’t, I really can’t answer that question I don’t know. I really don’t know. I’m still trying to figure out the mindset that they had. I’m still puzzled about any of the kids the mindset that they had, especially my own child. It’s a puzzle to me when it comes down to that.”
With regard to the victims of the assault:
“A lot of it was the first time me really actually hearing in detail, in court, what went on. And I could hardly hold back tears back. And I really, I was telling some friends. I really do feel for what happened to the mother and the child. Nobody should endure such things.
“Even that, what was going through the kids’ heads? I can’t imagine what was in the kids’ heads. Nobody should inflict that kind abuse on someone.
“So I really sympathize with what happened to them. My eyes were …my heart was broken. For the first time my heart was truly broken.”
He described his pain at not being in the courtroom as the verdict was read, after the jury’s late-breaking, end-of-day verdict was announced, when a friend who, in such an event was supposed to called him back from the library in the City Hall complex across the street, failed to do so.
He also ended as he began, by stating why he had been in the courtroom most of the day each day:
“I love my son.”
The day after the trial: still boarded units in Dunbar Village on Saturday.
Every day, Nathan Walker was in Courtoom 11H of the Palm Beach County Courthouse, at the trial of his son of the same name, who was convicted Friday on 11 of 14 counts of burglary, assault, rape and kidnapping in the infamous Dunbar Village brutality on a mother and her son two years ago.
In a telephone interview the next day, he described trying hard through the years “to be in my son’s life,” while fighting his own drug addiction with the help of Christian-based rehabilitation centers such as the one which which he has been affiliated for years.
Asked his speculation on the mindset of the up to 10, then-teenaged boys whom the mother said viciously tormented her and her child:
“I really can’t. I really can’t answer that question. I don’t know. I really don’t know. I’m still trying to figure out the mindset that they had. I’m still puzzled about any of the kids the mindset that they had, especially my own child. It’s a puzzle to me when it comes down to that.”
With regard to the victims of the assault:
“A lot of it was the first time me really actually hearing in detail, in court, what went on. And I could hardly hold back tears back. And I really, I was telling some friends, I really do feel for what happened to the mother and the child. Nobody should endure such things.
“Even that, what was going through the kids’ heads? I can’t imagine what was in the kids’ heads. Nobody should inflict that kind abuse on someone.
“So I really sympathize with what happened to them. My eyes were …my heart was broken. For the first time, my heart was truly broken.”
He described his pain at not being in the courtroom as the verdict was read, after the jury’s late-breaking, end-of-day arrival of it was announced, because a friend who in such an event was supposed to call him back from the library in the City Hall complex across the street, failed to do so.
He ended as he began, by stating why he had been present in Courtroom 11H most of the day, on each of the trial’s seven eight days:
“I love my son.”
(More of the interview to come.)
On a blisteringly hot Saturday, the view south...
...and to the north end of Dunbar Village's main thoroughfare.
Karen Stephens is a University of Florida graduate, accomplished theater professional, childrens’ advocate and popular beautician who owns her own business in West Palm Beach.
She also grew up in Dunbar Village, in a time of which she has fond memories.
She offers another slice of insight on that community — and the larger community — in which two African-American youths were convicted Friday of incomprehensible sexual attacks against a Haitian mother and son.
Stephens is a UF theatre graduate who has worked professionally as an actress for 27 years in the South Florida community.
She recently was honored by the Delta Sigma Theta sorority with their Women of Excellence Award, which biannually recognizes outstanding women in their fields ranging from humanitarian to social action — and in her case, 2009 honoree for the arts.
“I have been fortunate enough to work with at-risk youth, with performance and acting workshops,” she said. “I’ve gone into the Florida Institute for girls, which is the girls prison, and also the Juvenile Detention Center.
“I’ve worked with the Kravis Center of the Performing Arts on a couple of projects where they commissioned a play to be written for their student programs, and I’ve directed a couple of those.
“And right now I’m directing a short skit from the play “Spunk!” by Zora Neale Hurston, for Delta Sigma Theta’s Performance Showcase Youth in the Arts Salute to the Harlem Renaisssance.”
Stephen has performed at every theater around — the Caldwell Theater, Actors Playhouse in Miami, what used to be Florida Repertory Theater and now is the Cuillo Theatre, the Royal Palm Dinner Theater, and through the years at Florida Stage when it was an educational theatre going into the schools before becoming a regional theater
Among her many memorable roles that still have locals buzzing was “House With No Walls.” Based on real-life events, it dealt with the dynamics of activists in Philadelphia challenging corporate entities over the city building a museum on the site of George Washington’s former slave quarters. The museum was built — with a square left open denoting where the actual slave quarters were.
“African-Americans didn’t want that history buried, literally buried,” she said.
Another was her one-woman show “The Life and Times of Zora Neale Hurston, Loquacious and Bodacious.”
She also did “Out of the Box,” an autobiographical piece about what it’s like as a black woman growing up in America.
“I call it ‘Out of the Box,’ because, it seems like in America, once you check the box that’s marked race, whatever you check you’re thereby defined by that box, and you’re limited, or not limited, as the case may be by what you check.”
She describes her childhood in the box that now is Dunbar Village, in these first video installments of an August 22 interview she provided WAOD at her Karma Studio in West Palm Beach.
Sentencing for Nathan Walker is set for October 13.
He is the third of four then-teenagers charged in the incomprehensible gang-rape and assault on a mother and son two years ago in her Dunbar Village apartment in West Palm Beach.
For their senseless actions, Walker and co-defendant Tommy Poindexter each face life sentences on each count on which he was convicted.
Just two hours earlier Poindexter was found guilty on 8 of 13 identical charges.
Walker’s additional charge of grand theft auto, on which he was found guilty, was eliminated for Poindexter after no evidence was presented that Poindexter rode in the victim’s vehicle after the attack.
Also facing a life sentence is 16-year-old Avion Lawson, who pleaded guilty and testified for the state in hope of a lesser sentence.
The trial for another participant, Jakaris Taylor, is set for next month.
That leaves questions regarding the status of up to 10 others the mother alleged participated in the attack.
Not yet charged are two whom Lawson during his testimony named as participants, Melvin Young and Gus Fontaine.
In his closing argument, Robert Gershman, Walker’s attorney, belittled law officials’ statements that their investigation is ongoing. He questioned why with all their forensic evidence that was still the case after two years.
Gershman speaks to reporters outside the courtroom.
Unlike for the Poindexter verdict, the courtoom was relatively empty of spectators for Walker’s.
Outside, showers were rolling in.
Poindexter and family members had exchanged verbal and mouthed “I love you’s” as he was led away by deputies.
Walker, surrounded by deputies, was alone except for his attorney as he was handcuffed and taken from the courtroom.
The attorneys for both sides would say little except to confirm that appeals are automatic in such cases.
(Previous posts have been updated with more photos.)
Family members quicky huddled with defense attorneys in a side room.
Later they reportedly were heard screaming on an elevator, after 20-year-old Tommy Poindexter’s conviction on 8 rape, kidnapping, assault and burglary charges in the infamous attack at West Palm Beach’s Dunbar Village housing development two years ago.
Poindexter faces possible life sentences on each of the 8 charges. Judge Krista Marx set his sentencing for October 13.
Meanwhile, a second jury deliberates in the case of co-defendant Nathan Walker, 18.
They are nearing a half-hour of the 5 p.m. point at which Judge Marx said she may release them to return and continue Monday, unless they say they are close to reaching verdicts.
A faux funnel cloud attracts interest from the media reps, attorneys, and staff awaiting the second jury's verdict.
Associated Press reporter Brian Skoloff (sitting) updates his story as award-winning Palm Beach Post photographer Lannis Waters (R), who captured the bulk of the trial pictures, and local broadcaster Al Pefley eye the cloud.
Busy at their keyboards: Post editorial columnist Rhonda Swan (L) and courts reporter Susan Spencer-Wendel.
The separate juries, for the two defendants being tried simultaneously, raise the possibility of disparate findings when Walker’s verdicts are in.
A deputy announced that Jury #1 has reached a verdict in the case of Tommy Poindexter on 14 counts in the savage rape and assault on a Haitian mother and her son at West Palm Beach’s Dunbar Village housing development two years ago.
The audience for the verdict quickly swelled from this...
As word spreads around the courthouse, Courtroom 11H quickly fills. Extra Palm Beach County Sheriff’s deputies trickle in, 14 or more, seven bracketing the defendant’s table.
...to this.
Guilty. Guilty. Guilty….(train drowns clerk’s voice)…mix of guilty and not guiltys 8-5.
The verdict form.
And jury is thanked and dismissed.
Poindexter is consoled by Public Defender Carey Haughwout as judge sets sentencing for October 23 at 2:30 p.m.
He is led away to await it, to a male voice’s “I love you bro.”
The five male and one jurors in the gang-rape trial of Tommy Poindexter stared intently at the transcript as they listened to his arrest interview being played back in Judge Krista Marx’s courtroom.
Judge Marx announced prior to the jury’s return from lunch — and before co-defendant Nathan Walker’s Jury #2 was released for lunch — that the members had questions:
They wanted the trial testimony of the Haitian mother who, along with her son, was assaulted in her Dunbar Village home by as many as 10 people two years ago.
They also wanted the Poindexter interview transcript.
Even before the jury was brought in, another request: To look at booking photos, perhaps to better match descriptions with the testimony of who did what.
During the audio playback, jurors flipped pages of the interview transcript.
They made notes.
They looked up and around as the audio played forward during a delay, when the interviewing policeman apparently left the room.
Then they looked back at their notepads and transcripts, finished listening, and returned to the jury room.
A court reporter was preparing to re-read M.D.’s testimony, when Judge Marx shared another note from Jury #1:
“We do’t need to rehear the (mother’s) testimony. We have enough information to deliberate.”
Judge Marx places the court back in recess, only to announce a new note:
The second jury, for Nathan Walker, has a question. In the words of his attorney, Robert Gershman: Did Nathan possess a firearm?
Over his dissent, the judge instructs the jury that he is considered to be part of what the others did, if they consider him a principal in the crime.
Attorney Robert Gershman summed the defense case for Nathan Walker:
“DNA can tell us that Nathan was there. It cannot tell us what he did.”
Assistant State’s Attorney Craig Williams countered during the state’s rebuttal: “When you commit a crime with another person you’re all in it together. One for all all for one that’s the law.”
Their sparring highlighted the Dunbar Village rape trial’s Friday morning session before the jury heard instructions on the law from Circuit Court Judge Krista Marx.
Gershman:
“Beyond the morals, beyond the immorality, are the legal issues.”
“Mere knowledge that a crime is being commited, is not the same as the reckless intent…The law requires more. The law requires proof beyond a reasonable doubt.”
“To this day, we still do not know who…was doing what, at what time.”
“The only one the mother could not identify was Nathan.”
“The facts are that Nathan did n0t have a gun, touch a gun or use a gun.”
(paraphrased) Det. Lafont testified ‘arrests are forthcoming.’ Come on, after two years? With all their DNA evidence…They tell you two people we haven’t arrested who are out on the street, we’ll get around to it.
Williams during rebuttal:
“If you didn’t find him guilty of every single charge…your verdict would be a miscarriage of justice. Don’t do it.”
“His head on her pillow, in her home, in the pitch black!”
“Don’t feel sorry for him. Feel sorry for him? After what he did? Are we kidding ourselves?”
Afterward, prosecutors clearly were happy with their performance:
MInutes before judge and jury return from a brief break, Aleathea McRoberts slapped fellow prosecutor Williams a low-five.
A constant presence during the Dunbar Village gang-rape trial has been a quiet lady for whom the needs and well-being of the victim are of serious concern.
It’s also her job, for Palm Beach County Victim Services.
She can’t talk about it.
Nor would the folks in the agency’s central office downstairs on the fifth floor.
The literature they shared holds much insight into the special services they provide. Most was duplicated in languages other than English, such as Spanish and Creole.
More on that to come. We’ve also hoping the director will respond to a request to share even cursory or general information about the agency’s work: what the needs are in this community, and how they are met.
A constant presence during the Dunbar Village gang-rape trial has been a quiet lady for whom the needs and well-being of the victim are of serious concern.
Nor would the folks in the agency’s central office, on the fifth floor downstairs from Courtroom 11H of the Palm Beach County Courthouse.
The literature they shared holds much insight into the special services they provide. Most was duplicated in languages other than English, such as Spanish and Creole.
More on that to come. We’ve also hoping the director will respond to a request to share even cursory or general information about the agency’s work: what the needs are in this community, and how they are met.
