White Laborer Sentenced to Life in Prison for Grisly Murder of Black Man
INDEPENDENCE, Va. — A white laborer was sentenced to life in prison Friday for his role in the death of a black man who was burned alive and beheaded.
Emmett Cressell, 38, apologized to the family of Garnett P. Johnson for the anguish they have suffered since the July 1997 slaying, but refused to accept blame for it before Circuit Judge Colin Campbell imposed the sentence.
“I am factually innocent,†said Cressell, who was convicted in November of first-degree murder. Cressell said he was falsely accused by his co-defendant, Louis Ceparano, who struck a deal with prosecutors to avoid the death penalty.
The life sentence, plus a $100,000 fine, had been recommended by the jury. There is no possibility of parole except for “geriatric parole†after he turns 60. The sentence was the maximum that could have been imposed.
Johnson was doused with gasoline and set afire after an all-night drinking party at Ceparano’s trailer. Authorities found Johnson’s charred corpse in a pile of debris with his severed, burned head in a freshly dug hole nearby.
The Justice Department is investigating whether the crime was racially motivated.
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