Nation IN BRIEF : NEW YORK : Howard Beach Case Convictions Upheld

The manslaughter convictions of three white men in the 1986 death of a black man in the Howard Beach area of Queens in New York City were upheld by the state Court of Appeals in Albany, N.Y. Jon Lester, Scott Kern and Jason Ladone also had been found guilty of assault and conspiracy in an attack on three black men. One victim, Michael Griffith, 23, was killed by an oncoming car when he ran onto a highway while trying to escape. The court decided that a U.S. Supreme Court ruling prohibiting prosecutors from excluding jurors because of race also applies to defense lawyers. Lester, Kern and Ladone claimed that their attorneys were illegally prohibited from excluding black jurors.