Fresno state
 

Fresno Beel
April 6, 2001

Racial attack brings $5m
Settlement reached by a former Fresno State student.

By Matthew Kreamer
The Fresno Bee

An African-American former Fresno State student beaten by a white
supremacist during a fraternity party will receive about $5 million
for his injuries.

Malcolm Boyd, whose 1997 beating touched off a period of racial
discord that intensified during a Ku Klux Klan rally at the
university, now lives with his mother in Southern California. He
remains partially blind and has suffered brain damage as a result of
being hit in the head with a metal pipe, said his lawyer, Jacob
Weisberg.

The Kappa Sigma fraternity, the host of the party where the attack
took place, settled Boyd's civil lawsuit Wednesday, agreeing to pay
$1.35 million.

Co-defendants San Mar Property Management and CBS Security previously
settled for $650,000 and $250,000, respectively.

Boyd's portion of those settlements will be placed into a fund from
which he will receive monthly payments totaling about $5 million with
interest included, Weisberg said.

"It certainly will be a good supplement for him over the years, and
that makes me feel better as a parent," said Boyd's mother, Phyllis
Boyd.

She said he also will resume certain physical therapy treatments,
which had been stopped because of their expense.

Boyd, 28, was a semester away from a degree in business law when the
attack took place.

Boyd was in a coma for several months after the attack. Since, he's
had to relearn how to talk and walk, which he does with a limp. He
has numbness throughout his right side, Phyllis Boyd said. He also
deals with bouts of depression.

"It boggles my mind when I look at where he is compared to where he
should be," Phyllis Boyd said. "He's up and down sometimes. The
biggest struggle we'll have is trying to get him to move on."

She said her son doesn't remember the beating.

"He recalls everything up to the point of talking to somebody at the
party, but he has no recollection of the incident," Phyllis Boyd
said. "His whole life is basically before he got hurt and after he
got hurt."

Jerry Joseph Hamilton, 23, a member of the white-supremacist
"Peckerwood" gang, pleaded no contest Dec. 17, 1998 to beating Boyd
and another man and is serving a 26-year prison sentence.

Hamilton and some friends crashed the fraternity party Aug. 23, 1997.
According to witnesses, the attack occurred when someone in
Hamilton's group directed a racial slur at another group of people.

Boyd reportedly overheard the remark and was questioning the person
responsible when Hamilton, who has a tattoo across his back that
reads "my skin is my religion," jumped in and started swinging the
pipe.

After striking Boyd from behind, Hamilton reportedly stood over the
victim, who was knocked unconscious, and yelled, "This is white
pride, fool!" He then hit Boyd on the head and chest.

Jason Bechara, Boyd's friend, also was hit in the head but did not
suffer permanent injury.

Boyd, who has accumulated more than $1 million in medical bills,
filed the civil suit in November 1998. It accused Kappa Sigma of
failing to protect him, failing to keep the fraternity grounds free
of hazardous material, including the pipe used in the attack, and
failing to supervise the conduct of guests.

CBS Security Services Inc., which the fraternity had hired to monitor
the party, also was accused of failing to supervise the conduct of
guests.

San Mar Properties, the fraternity's landlord, also was accused of
failing to keep the fraternity grounds free of hazardous material.
Officials with those three organizations could not be reached for
comment Thursday.

Within days of the attack, residents in Fresno and Boyd's hometown of
Long Beach began holding vigils and rallies against hate crimes.
Within a month, the Ku Klux Klan began placing literature around
Fresno State.

Shortly after, the university's Academic Senate passed an anti-racism
resolution. And weeks later, the Klan responded with a rally at the
university.

Hours after that rally, two men who reportedly espouse pro-Nazi views
were arrested on suspicion of assaulting four young people in Visalia
who had protested the Klan.