Mississippi: Ike Brown trial recesses for 2 weeks
AP reports: A federal judge has recessed for two weeks the trial of a black Democratic Party official in Noxubee County accused of trying to limit whites' participation in local elections.
Ike Brown, the chairman of the county's Democratic Executive Committee, is accused of violating the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which was written to protect racial minorities when Southern states strictly enforced segregation. It is the first use of the act to allege discrimination against whites. ...
On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Tom S. Lee recessed the trial until Feb. 15, at which time he expects to hear from an elections expert enlisted by the Noxubee County Democrats to counter allegations by a political scientist hired by the U.S. Department of Justice. ...
The Democrats' expert - Richard Engstrom - has said Noxubee County whites lose elections simply because they're in the minority. ...
In letting Engstrom testify for the Democrats, Lee overruled a federal magistrate who had earlier barred the expert's testimony because he came too late into the case.
Lee said Engstrom should be heard "in the interest of fairness" for letting both sides fully present their cases. -- AP Wire | 02/01/2007 | Miss. voting rights trial on break, resumes Feb. 15