Matthew Darby, a white Mississippi teenager, faces 27 years in prison after running over and killing a man who was walking along a rural highway. The case, according to the victim's family, is being called a hate crime, CNN reported.
Darby, who is 18, pleaded guilty earlier this week to manslaughter in the July 2012 death of 61-year-old Johnny Lee Butts. Companions put Darby at the wheel of the white Chevrolet that hit Butts from behind on a highway in Panola County, about 150 miles north of Jackson. Butts was a black man.
Authorities described the scene involving two teenagers who were in the car the morning Butts was killed. The white kids in the car had been drinking vodka and smoking marijuana all night.
The Monte Carlo hit Butts with such force that the windshield collapsed into the car, bending the steering wheel back sharply, CNN reported.
His leg was nearly severed, and his body was found more than 170 feet from where he was struck, court records showed.
Investigators estimate the vehicle was traveling somewhere between 55 and 70 mph.
Butts' family told CNN they believed their father was killed because he was black and questioned why the murder charge against Darby was not seen as a hate crime.
Darby's lawyer, Tony Farese, however told reporters this week that the death was not a hate crime, rather "a tragic situation by young people who were intoxicated."
Butts' family met with Darby in jail for three hours last week, their lawyer, Wilbur Colom, said Thursday. Colom said the teen was extremely remorseful and asked for forgiveness but never admitted anything about a hate crime.
"In the end, we were not convinced it wasn't a hate crime," Colom said. "But in the end, we were also not convinced we would get anything more desirable than 27 years."
