Victim of foul shots

Sporting News, The, Dec 25, 1995 by Richard Lapchick

The story of basketball player Michael Watson reads like Mississippi in the 1960s. In reality, it took place less than a month ago in Maryland. It's yet another reason why African Americans have so little faith in the American justice system.

It was the Wednesday afternoon before thanksgiving. Watson sat in a state courthouse in Frederick, Md., waiting for his slice of American justice. His former teammates at Mount St. Mary's were practicing for their opening game of the 1995-96 season. Watson now a graduate student had helped lead the small school to the greatest victory in its history seven months earlier when it beat Rider University to win the Northeast Conference championship and advance to the NCAA Tournament Watson had scored 15 points, grabbed 11 rebounds and hit 6 consecutive free throws in the last 61 seconds to slam the door on Rider's attempt to get to the Big Dance three consecutive years.

Those spectacular basketball moments had helped Watson forget the painful ones, when he was assaulted by three white men, in Thurmont Md., convenience store before the start of the 94-95 season. He had pulled up to the store with his date at 1 a.m. October 30, 1994. They had stopped for food after a college party.

About 12 hours earlier, a busload of hooded and robed members of the Ku Klux Klan had marched at the state house in Annapolis. They shouted "White Power" while one carried a poster of the assassinated civil-rights leader, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., encircled by a bull's-eye. The caption read: "Our Dream Came True." Klan members were outnumbered by more than 10 to 1 by protesters who shouted them down while tension built in the state capitol.

Those tensions clearly spilled over across the state into Thurmont, which was near the home of the leader of the Maryland Klan. According to Watson, one of the men who attacked him shouted "You don't belong here. This is Klan country. You're a nigger, boy." At the trial, the assailants denied the remarks, but they could not deny what the store's videotape had captured. It clearly showed the three men assaulting Michael Watson, shoving and hitting him while he held up his hands in defense.

Watson's back injuries kept him off the basketball court for several weeks while he underwent physical therapy. The back pain recurs occasionally, but far less than the mental agony.

A shocked Mount St. Mary's President George R. Houston Jr. wrote a letter to the college community. In it he said, "We have called on the authorities to pursue prosecution of this matter with all available resources, and we expect a fair, thorough and prompt investigation."

In an uncelebrated version of the Rodney King case, the investigation produced the videotape and witnesses who testified for Watson. Though no one could verify the racist remarks, witnesses collaborated Watson's version, which seemed indisputable because of the videotape. Through the help of various local friends, counselors and nationally prominent activists, Watson began to recover from the emotional scars of the attack. He did not seek publicity. There would be no TVs in the court, no Marcia Clark for the prosecution, no Johnnie Cochran for the defense. No Mark Fuhrman or Stacey Koon on the Thurmont Police. The case was an easy one for him to win from all vantage points.

While waiting for the tediously slow wheels of justice to give Watson his turn in court, basketball became prime in his emotional rehabilitation: "There was no sense of race on our team. We were all so focused on winning. We worked together with a special solidarity. Our team was a safe haven for me, and while we were together, I was able to forget what had happened outside the walls of Mount St. Mary's. My white teammates gave me the perspective that those three attackers did not represent all white people. However, when I was away from my teammates, the pain always came back."

Watching his attackers go to prison was going to be the last step toward recovery. Watson was poised to celebrate With a real Thanksgiving.

The trial started with jury selection on Monday. Dino Flores, the prosecutor, was confident.

Then the signs began to appear. An all-white jury was seated. Still confident Mores took his case to them. The only other African American in the courthouse was one of the defense attorneys for the men accused of attacking Watson. The defense strategy was obvious.

The witnesses in the store verified what was seen on the videotape. The black defense lawyer called Watson a racist and claimed he provoked the attack against the three white men. Raised to respect everyone regardless of color, Watson cringed in disbelief at what he was hearing.

Nonetheless, when the jury went out on Wednesday, Watson and Prosecutor Flores felt good. Michael said: "I was 90-percent certain (of a favorable outcome). The evidence was clear, and the judge had ruled favorably on most of Flores' motions. The 10 percent of doubt came only from what I knew about the fate of blacks in the justice system. But I was sure."