Survivor of hate crime attack jumps from ship, dies

[almaty 19]

HOUSTON, Texas (AP) -- David Ritcheson hated being known as "that kid" -- the teenager who was beaten unconscious and sodomized with a plastic pole during a party where one of his assailants shouted "White Power!"

David Ritcheson, 18, jumped to his death from the Carnival Cruise ship Ecstasy.

Ritcheson didn't want to stand out from his classmates because of the assault, but he acknowledged in an interview that "it was just really hard to hold your head up, even to walk outside with everyone almost in the world knowing what happened."

That anguish may have contributed to his decision to leap Sunday from a cruise ship to his death in the Gulf of Mexico.

A man at Ritcheson's home who identified himself as the teen's father confirmed the death Monday to The Associated Press. He declined to give his name or comment further, saying the family would issue a statement later.

Ritcheson, 18, rarely discussed his feelings and declined to get counseling after being attacked at the drug-fueled teen party in April 2006. A year later, he testified before Congress in support of a hate crimes bill.

In an interview with the Houston Chronicle this past April, he said: "I shouldn't care what people think or say. It's just the fact that everyone knows I'm the kid. It was bigger than Houston. It was bigger than Texas. It was bigger than America. Everybody in the world knew what had happened and everybody knew the details of it."

Ritcheson, a Mexican-American, was beaten and sodomized with a patio umbrella pole. He also was stomped and burned with cigarettes, and his attackers poured bleach on him before leaving him for dead. He was hospitalized for more than three months and endured 20 to 30 operations.

On Sunday, he was pronounced dead after being pulled aboard the Ecstasy, a cruise ship en route from Galveston to Cozumel, Mexico.

A spokesman for Carnival Cruise Lines said several witnesses saw Ritcheson jump from an upper deck of the ship Sunday morning. Officials aboard the Ecstasy notified the Coast Guard before recovering Ritcheson's body.

Mike Trent, the prosecutor who handled his case, said the small, quiet youth always seemed positive and upbeat about his recovery.

"He certainly wanted to see justice done in the case and wanted his attackers punished, but I thought that -- considering everything that had happened to him -- he had come through things remarkably well," Trent said.

He said Ritcheson had used drugs before the attack but realized that played a role in his assault and promised to quit. According to testimony, the attack was triggered by Ritcheson's drunken pass at another teen's 12-year-old sister.

Ritcheson's death is "just very tragic because I thought he had turned a corner and was trying his best to make something positive out of what happened to him," Trent said. "He thought that he could handle everything on his own."

Although he remembered nothing of the four-hour attack, Ritcheson testified about it during congressional hearings in April on a hate-crimes bill. That bill passed the House and is pending in a Senate committee.

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, said she hopes to have the measure formally named "David's Bill" in Ritcheson's honor.

"I could not have been more moved by his commitment to getting things right," Jackson Lee said Monday. "He was able to dig deep over all of the pain and all the humiliation and try to be of help to someone else."

The Anti-Defamation League was one of several civil rights groups that organized Ritcheson's testimony.

"Our hearts go out to his family and friends, who already have endured so much pain," the ADL said Monday in a statement. "We pray the same strength, courage and dignity they displayed after David's attack will help them make it through this very difficult time."

Two men were convicted of aggravated sexual assault in the attack. David Henry Tuck, then 18, was sentenced to life in prison. Keith Robert Turner, then 17, was sentenced to 90 years in prison. Both must serve at least 30 years before being eligible for parole.

Ritcheson, Tuck, Turner and two other teens were partying at a suburban home at the time of the attack, drinking and taking cocaine and Xanax.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Very tragic.

Why someone else at the party didn't try to stop the two from attacking him is disgusting.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

I have a personal story along those lines involving something that happened to a family member. Same thing - at a party. Noone did anything.

[^KK^ 3]

oh so sad.

[Chica Yeyé 41]

Very tragic.

Why someone else at the party didn't try to stop the two from attacking him is disgusting.

Tragic and disgusting . Like CSI Grissom (yup, have a crush on Grissom so sue me ) wisely said once... "it never ceases to amaze me what people do to other people..."

And excellent questions S&J: what about the other party goers????? Was it a case of cheer on, cheer on?????

To the OP: were they tried under the Hate Crime statute?

L.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

I have a personal story along those lines involving something that happened to a family member. Same thing - at a party. Noone did anything.

There should be legal repercussions in cases where it's determined that bystanders could have stopped the attack and didn't. I seriously doubt it was just the two teenage boys burning him with cigarettes. The Prosecutors probably offered immunity to those who testified against the boys as witnesses, but those bystanders will be living the rest of their lives knowing that they could have done something, but didn't.

[Ladylethal 12]

In Brazil the law says that it's your duty to help someone in need, when helping them won't bring you harm, or further endanger your own situation if both parties are in need of help.

[Ban Hammer 13,335]

In Brazil the law says that it's your duty to help someone in need, when helping them won't bring you harm, or further endanger your own situation if both parties are in need of help.

same in most states, the good samaritan law.

[sereia 0]

thats awful!!! i hope those guys never get paroled! what a waste of all those lives.

[britbird 4]

The Good Samaritan law is really there to protect you if you choose to assist and something happens as a result. There isn't (with the exception of a couple of states) a legal duty to provide assistance, though if you do provide assistance you have a duty of reasonable care once you start. It differs from state to state, and sometimes isn't all that well stated, so you have to look at the case law. Very interesting.

The reasoning for there being no duty is that you don't want to force people to do certain things, also it's very difficult at times to enforce fairly if you think through some possible hypotheticals.