White Supremacist Sentenced To Life In Prison For Murder Of Black Man

James Harris Jackson was sentenced to life in prison without the chance of parole on Wednesday for the murder of 66-year-old Timothy Caughman, a Black man who he killed in the hopes of inciting a race war. Last month, Jackson pleaded guilty to rare state charges of murder as terrorism and murder as a hate crime in the fatal stabbing in New York City almost two years ago. His conviction was the first of a white supremacist on terrorism in the state of New York. “The racial World War starts today,” Jackson wrote in a manifesto according to the New York Times. “This political terrorist attack is a formal declaration of global total war on the Negro races.” The Times notes that prior to his sentencing, Jackson attempted to offer a feeble apology for his actions. “It never should have happened, and of course, if I could do it all over again this never would have happened for sure,” he said. Jackson’s lawyer, Frederick L. Sosinsky claimed that his client’s “lost soul and broken spirit permitted him to act as he never acted before.” Still, Justice Laura A. Ward of State Supreme Court handed out the maximum sentence allowed. “You killed a man solely because he was black and hoped to incite a race war,” Justice Ward said. “There’s no excuse for your actions.” The sentence, however, did little to bring Caughman’s family peace.

“We’ll never be able to share another family moment with Timothy,” Richard Peek, Caughman’s cousin, said according to the Times. “We’ll never get to say goodbye to our loved one. We’ll never know how much he truly suffered, or how alone he felt in his last moments. That is our life sentence.”