He is one of only a few white criminals since 1976 to have been executed for murdering a black victim.

"Gaskins's crime, after all, is that he killed his black victim before the state could get around to killing him itself."

Still, many brutality complaints do involve white officers and black victims.

The black victim resigned the academy and has filed suit against the school.

There were 194,270 white and 17,920 black victims of rape or sexual assault reported in 2006.

The report also found that "94% of black victims were killed by blacks."

Like the earlier two incidents, this shooting involved a black victim.

Now his supporters portray him as another black victim of the criminal justice system.

Earlier, lawyers for two black victims of an attack by whites criticized the police and prosecutors.

But only once since 1944 has a state executed a white murderer of a black victim.