Martial arts champion Clawson guilty of Chico hate crime
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By Denny Walsh
dwalsh@sacbee.com
Published: Thursday, Mar. 25, 2010 - 12:00 am | Page 3B
Last Modified: Thursday, Mar. 25, 2010 - 8:55 am
A San Francisco man is facing prison after being found guilty Wednesday of punching an African American man because of his race and the fact he was enjoying himself at a Chico bar.
A jury of six women and six men deliberated 2½ hours at the conclusion of a three-day trial in Sacramento federal court before finding Eric Loren Clawson guilty of a hate-based violation of Carl Whitfield's civil rights.
Clawson, 28, was taken into custody following the verdict. He was handcuffed and escorted out of the courtroom by deputy U.S. marshals as distraught family members, including his parents and sister, looked on.
Once an amateur mixed martial arts champion in the light heavyweight division, Clawson knocked the 6-foot-4, 240-pound Whitfield down and out with one punch. Witnesses said he was out for 20 to 30 seconds, and in a daze for a while.
Clawson testified he approached a group that included Whitfield and inquired why they were looking across the room at him and "seemed disturbed." When he asked, "What's the problem?" Whitfield stood up and faced Clawson, looking angry and "ready to fight," so Clawson went on the offensive, he said.
The element of surprise is a bar fighter's best friend, and Clawson testified he's been in dozens of them.
He acknowledged that earlier, in ordering and paying for drinks, he made two remarks to the bartender that included a racial epithet generally applied to African Americans.
But, Clawson testified, he was not describing Whitfield but meant it as a euphemism for "cheap." He said he saw Whitfield only later when he and others around him began staring and acting as if they were unhappy with Clawson.
Whitfield, his girlfriend and bartender James Kellon Thompson testified that as Clawson and friend Joe Grivette entered Riley's Bar & Grill on the night of July 6, 2008, somebody said, "I'm not sitting here with that n-----," and it came from their direction.
The three prosecution witnesses said Clawson, without provocation, wordlessly walked up behind Whitfield, tapped him on the shoulder and, when Whitfield turned, hit him.
Clawson denied using the epithet in reference to Whitfield, insisting he didn't even see Whitfield when he came into Riley's that Sunday night.
"That's nonsense," Assistant U.S. Attorney Russell Carlberg told the jury in a rebuttal argument.
"He saw Carl Whitfield. Everybody knows it. He picked him out and attacked him."
Defense lawyer Emily Doringer told the jury in her closing argument that, while her client is a brawler, he bears no racial animus and only one other of his many altercations involved an African American man.
"He has no problems interacting, socializing and otherwise dealing with African Americans," she said. "There's just no history here."
She noted that Whitfield and girlfriend Noelle Keese testified they heard a racially derogatory comment when Clawson and Grivette came in, but did not tell that to Chico police officers who took their statements shortly after the incident.
"That means there is doubt," Doringer argued.
She also said that, if Clawson were going to direct an epithet at Whitfield, he would have done it when he approached him, but he said nothing.
"That is serious doubt about what was going through Mr. Clawson's mind," she told the jury.
"He let his fist do the talking," was Carlberg's rejoinder.
Clawson and Grivette were both charged with the hate crime.
Grivette, 29, pleaded guilty to a lesser charge a week ago and validated the prosecution's version of the incident.
Grivette was outside when Clawson felled Whitfield. But minutes before the punch, as he left Riley's, he assured his friend, "Whatever you do, I've got your back."
Under the terms of a plea bargain, Grivette's lawyer is free to argue for as little as two months behind bars.
Clawson's sentencing is set for June 10. His crime carries a maximum 10 years in prison.
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