Landmark Hate Crime Conviction; Deryl Dedmon Pleads Guilty in Mississippi Murder
BALDWIN: OK. So, last summer, CNN's Drew Griffin went to Mississippi to investigate and uncovered surveillance video of this hate crime, and I want to bring Drew in. But first, before we get to the news of the day, remind us, I mean -- I forever have that seared in my head, that video.</s>DREW GRIFFIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There was a group of teenagers who specifically left a party hunting for a black man to beat up. It was that quick, that easy an explanation and it was their own explanation. And Deryl Dedmon, the person who pleaded guilty yesterday and was sentenced to two life terms, is the person who actually killed James Craig Anderson. And we do have the surveillance video that was caught at a hotel of this large pickup truck, an F-250 pickup truck driving over a man who was walking down the street. That was the act of murder. Today what's happening is, for the first time in the case involving death --</s>BALDWIN: There it is.</s>GRIFFIN: There's the surveillance tape. Today the department of justice has filed hate crime charges using the Matthew Shepard law for the first time in a case involving a death, not just against Deryl Dedmon, but two of the other people who were there, John Rice and another fellow named Dylan Butler.</s>BALDWIN: So it was these three guys in total. These three white guys.</s>GRIFFIN: It gets a little more complicated than that. It was a group of seven white teenagers from Rankin county, Mississippi, who on a Saturday night, drunk, decided to drive 19 miles into Jackson, Mississippi, decided to find a black person to beat up. They found the first black person and they killed him. And four of those people remain uncharged. We expect possibly more charges to come later this afternoon in Jackson federal court. But I think what is interesting is we may see the same thing happen down in Florida where the department of justice comes in, applies the Matthew Shepard hate crime law and perhaps seeks prosecution against George Zimmerman under the hate crime legislation.</s>BALDWIN: Again, just want to warn our viewers because we hadn't wanted to play it in full, the surveillance video, right, if I remember correctly, is from a nearby motel. It's tough to watch. Just a fair warning for those of you as we play out the surveillance video, and you're potentially connecting the dots to what we may see in Florida. You mentioned this 19-year-old Deryl Dedmon who is the one who will now be serving two concurrent life sentences. What are we looking at?</s>GRIFFIN: You can see the kids going back and forth. They're actually going and beating up the victim, punching him and yelling racial slurs. One of them even yelled white power as they were leaving. And then you see the pickup truck, and look for that man coming out of the corner there. That's the man stumbling. That's the victim, James Craig Anderson. Just up from being beat up, he's stumbling --</s>BALDWIN: Inside the circle.</s>GRIFFIN: Inside the circle. Deryl Dedmon backs up and gets a good aim and then just plows him over on the way out and to be absolutely factual at the end of this, Deryl Dedmon is laughing with his friends and actually called on a cell phone. And pardon my language, there was no other way to say this, says I just ran over that f-ing nigger, that's what he said. And it was a clear-cut case of pure racial intent murder that took place there, which is why, quite frankly, it was so easy to apply the hate crime legislation in this case. There was no question about it, unlike the circumstances involving the case in Florida.</s>BALDWIN: The 19-year-old, two concurrent life sentences. We will wait and see if those other four are charged, and it's interesting, if we will see something like that with DOJ now involved in Florida, if the Matthew Shepard law is applied. Drew Griffin, thank you very much. And thank you so much for watching, here. I'm Brooke Baldwin at CNN world headquarters in Atlanta. And now to Washington, to Wolf Blitzer. "THE SITUATION ROOM" starts right now.</s>WOLF BLITZER, HOST, CNN'S THE SITUATION ROOM: Brooke, thanks very much.