White Gets 4 1/2 Years in Assault Case
Family Determined To Clear His Name
By TRAVIS MITCHELL
Chronicle Staff Writer
A man who once managed a
home for mentally handicapped
people plea bargained and got a 4
1/2 year prison term on charges that
he sexual assaulted a resident.
Michael Ray White, 30, plead
guilty last week in Forsyth County
Superior Court to two counts of sex
ual activity by a custodian. He was
charged with second degree rape
and second degree sexual offense in
an assault on 23-year-old Charlotte
Lynette Canty of Winston-Salem.
Canty was evaluated as having
the mental capacity of a 4-year-old.
Based on the advice of his
attorney, Walter Holton, White
decided to accept a plea bargain
from the prosecution.
The trial was in its second day
when White decided to accept the
plea bargain. Prosecutors said White
could have been sentenced up to 95
years.
Superior Court Judge James
Webb sentenced him to 41/2 years
in prison and five years' probation.
The trial concerned an incident
alleged to have occurred Sept. 13,
1991 at the Raven Ridge Group
Home in Kemersville.
Carolyn Canty, Lynn's mother,
said White had touched her daugh
ter's breasts and forced her to have
sex with him. Canty said she learned
of the incident after picking Lynn
up for the weekend.
C anty then took her daughter to
N.C. Baptist Hospital for an exami
nation. A nurse, Janet H. Gordon,
assisted in the initial examination.
She testified that Canty was "very
coherent, very willing, and able to
answer questions" about the event.
Canty used anatomically correct
dolls to show that she was forced to
have anal and vaginal sex.
Examination results produced
no physical evidence, such as
semen, pubic hair or blood, linking
White to the assault. Also there was
very little evidence of trauma, asso
ciated with sexual assault other than
a broken hymen. Tests did not indi
cate when the hymen was broken.
The prosecution said Canty had
bathed at least twice before the
examination_an<Lthey believed her
attacker used a condom.
No one testified to have wit
nessed the assault.
But one employee, Monique
Thompson, who was in the facility
between 6 and 9 a.m. when the
attack allegedly occurred, told offi
cials that she was unaware of an
attack during this time.
"No forensics evidence was
found to link him to the case," said
prosecuting attorney Charles
Luckey of House & Blanco, who
was participating in a special pro
gram set up by the D.A.'s office,
which lets
?
private attorneys prosecute sex
ual offense cases.
"But If you had been in the
courtroom and heard the nurse tell
you what the victim told her about
certain things you would be influ
enced. In this case and any case
there are a lot of questions you can
ask. But part of a trial is the
dynamic of human beings and how
they talk to each other."
Luckey maintained that White
had an opportunity to attack during
the night because he also lived at
the home.
Co-prosecutor, Mary Behan,
said that they would have used past
instances to attack White's credibil
ity had he not accepted the plea bar
gain. Canty's attorneys said White
worked at Su-Lynn Residential
Home in Guildford County in 1988,
where a resident alleged that he
assaulted him.
"Its not a simplistic case
involving one person saying one
thing and another saying something
different," said Holton. "You never
know what a jury is going to do.
They often reach a conclusion that
we don't expect."
. _ Canty's mother filed a lawsuit
on Sept. 13, 1992 in Forsyth County
Superior Court naming Forsyth
Stokes Mental Health, which oper
ates Raven Ridge Group Home,
Michael White, and some his super
visors as defendants in the suit
claiming some $10 million in dam
ages.
White will remain in Forsyth
County Jail until next week, when
he will be transferred to Central
Prison in Raleigh.
Furniture Market Boycott from page ai
However, the workers said that
since being ordered in October 1991
by the National Labor Relations
Board to enter into good faith bar
gaining, Hood officials have refused
to negotiate.
This has continued to ignite a
fire under the workers and commu
nity who held a rally earlier this
month in Jackson, which drew 700
union, civil rights, and political offi
cials from neighboring. Mates. r
According to workers* Hood ia
apposed to: a contract wage
increase, currently paying an aver
age of $5; improving the employees
health insurance; cooperation with
the union on issues concerning
employees health and safety; mak
ing payroll deductions for union
dues and credit union; and improve
ments in vacation and other bene
fits. The company is 95 percent
African-American.
The workers from Mississippi
were joined by a van filled with
qnion workers. Local 276 of the
IUE, from the La-Z-Boy plant in
Florence, S.C. Union leaders there
have been organized since 1971:
"We are in total support q? the .
boycott of Hood Furniture Com
pany," said John James, president of
Local 276. "And we will assist them
in trying to get a contract."
"We have a contract and that
means job security," said Willie
Walker, Jr.,
a Local 276 representative.
"That is what the union is all
about"
Mississippi union leaders say
, that they will continue their boycott
efforts in other cities and states, next
targeting specific buyers who
encompass Hood's biggest
accounts. They also are prepared to
"stfilfe if ttlfe company does not j
retuin to the negotiating table with
some strong offers.,.
"I don't think that we will have
a strike," Weber said."But if there is
one, then striking workers will be
permanently and legally replaced."
Woman Files Suit from page A1
resulted from sexual assault
allegations that a Guilford County
home resident had made.
Officials at Forsyth-Stokes
Mental Health Authority were
unavailable for comment.
Canty is being represented by
Bree Lorant of the Law Offices of
Grover McCain in Greensboro.
Lorant said the Forsyth County
agency has obtained the legal ser
vices of Womble, Carly le, Sandrige
UNCF Achievement Award from page A1
cosmetics company based in
Greensboro.
He is the owner of one of the
largest minority-oWned manufactur- .
ing firms in the Southeast' :
Fulton is best known for his
innovative creation of marketing
pantyhose in egg shape containers.
This idea gave the North Carolina
native phenomenal success- as well
as the Sara Lee Corporation where
he is president. He is also a sup
porter of the UNCFand is a mem
i
ber of the Board of Trustees at Win
ston-Salem State University.
Angelou, the daughter of
the late Viviari A. Baxter, presides
over the UNCF statewide Special
Gifts Drive. Under her leadership
the organization has gained increas
ing community and statewide recog
nition and credibility.
In appreciation for the contribu
tions of both Angelou and Baxter
the UNCF has established the Maya
Angelou/Vivian Baxter UNCF
Scholarship.
The award will be given to a
North Carolina student; biannually
who must attend one of the six
North Carolina UNCF institutions.
The UNCF Schools are Barber
Scotia College in Concord, Bennett
College in Greensboro, Johnson C.
Smith University in Charlotte, Liv
ingstone College in Salisbury, St.
; Augustine's College in Raleigh and
Shaw University in Raleigh. All of
the schools are located in N.C. . * ??
The General Membership Meeting
of the Winston-Salem Branch NAACP
The Election of Nominating Committee
will be held on
October 27, 1992
at 6:30 p.m.
1225 E. Fyth Street
Winston-Salem , North Carolina
CZ3>
'& A * * ??
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