Family of 1969 race riot victim settle federal lawsuit for $2M News
Family of 1969 race riot victim settle federal lawsuit for $2M

[JURIST] The city of York, Pennsylvania, will pay a $2 million settlement to the relatives of a black woman shot to death during race riots in 1969. The two children and two sisters of Lilly Belle Allen will get a total of $200,000 annually for a decade in a deal that would end their federal lawsuit filed against the city and five former police officers. Allen, a 27-year-old woman from Aiken, South Carolina, was shot repeatedly and killed while getting out of her family's stalled car in a predominantly white neighborhood. Thirty-three years later, the former mayor of York, Charlie Robertson, was accused of inciting the violence [PDF criminal complaint] and went on trial [CNN report] in the killing along with two other men in 2002. Robertson was acquitted [AP report]; the others were convicted of murder. Current mayor John Brenner [official profile] could not immediately comment on the case but is expected to do so after the case's status conference, which is set for Friday before US District Judge Yvette Kane [official profile]. AP has more. The Patriot-News has local coverage.