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. # # # 95-476