FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                          CR
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 1995                        (202) 616-2765
                                               TDD (202) 514-1888

                                 
            FEDERAL JURY CONVICTS DES MOINES SKIKNHEAD
            FOR ASSAULTING AFRICAN AMERICAN IN A PARK


     WASHINGTON, D.C. -- A federal jury today convicted a Des
Moines skinhead of violating federal civil rights law by
assaulting a black man who was sitting in a Des Moines park with
his wife who is white, the Justice Department announced.  Four
other individuals involved in the attack previously pleaded
guilty. 
     The Justice Department alleged that in August 1994, Matthew
David Cannon, together with the four others, struck Lloyd Tate,
of Des Moines, in the head with a glass bottle and repeatedly
kicked him in the face and body as he lay on the ground.
     Tate had been sitting inside the entrance to the Chamberlain
Park in Des Moines with his wife when the five skinheads
approached and attacked.  All five were 21 years old or younger
at the time of the assault.
     "This successful prosecution shows our firm commitment to
vigorously protect the rights of all people to enjoy public parks
without fear of violence because of their race," said Assistant
Attorney General for Civil Rights Deval L. Patrick.
     In July 1995, James Austin Dunaway, Jeffrey Colin Van
Cleave, and Damon Bradley Shogren pleaded guilty to violating
Tate's rights to use the park.  Two months earlier Jason Kooker
pleaded guilty to conspiring to interfere with Tate's rights. 
The four are awaiting sentencing.
     "The prosecution and the guilty verdicts are clear
indication that people who commit acts of racial violence will
not go unpunished," said Don Carlos Nickerson, U.S. Attorney in
Des Moines, who tried the case together with Jessica Ginsburg of
the Criminal Section of the Civil Rights Division at the Justice
Department.
     Nickerson said Cannon faces a maximum sentence of fifteen
years imprisonment and a $500,000 fine.  His sentencing is
scheduled for December 18.
     Nickerson also commended the FBI and the Des Moines Police
Department for investigating the incident.
     The Justice Department opens over 400 race-based hate crime
investigations each year.
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