Chiman Rai, 68, was sentenced in Atlanta, Georgia to life in prison for the murder of his daughter-i-law. The Indian born businessman was accused of killing Sparkle Michelle Rai because she was black and he viewed the marriage as bringing shame upon his family.
Rai avoided the death penalty, which the prosecutors had sought in the case.
Sparkle, 22, was found strangled
and stabbed in 2000, not long after she married Rai’s son, Ricki Rai of arranging the murder for &10,000. Ricky Rai ran a hotel for his father and hired Sparkle Reid as a clerk. Two months after they started dating, she became pregnant with their daughter Analla and they married. Analla was in the room when her mother was killed but she was unharmed.
The prosecutors used a jailhouse snitch who was Rai cellmate against him. The snitch said that Rai called black people “scum.” The two middlemen, Willie Fred Evans and Herbert Green, used to contract with the alleged killers cut a deal and testified against Rai. The alleged killers — a brother team, Cleveland and Carl Clark, are awaiting trial.
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Cultural tolerance does have its limits.
Dear Sir,
Sri Lanka – a beautiful island, a pearl in the Indian Ocean has been a war torn country during the past twenty five years due to various insurgent groups, who had been the chief cause blocking the development and financial stability of this country.
As year 2008 draws down its curtain and the dawning New Year 2009 emerges out as a year of economic crisis, with businesses slowing down and recession hitting hard all over the world, but amidst all this there is still scope left over. Sri Lanka is now set on the path towards great economic growth as the civil war is in its final stages.
This beautiful Isle is again poised to bring blessings upon itself with prosperity flowing and everlasting peace for as harmonious living.
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Yours faithfully
Asanka Perera