http://www.philly.com/philly/news/homepage/20090804__Noose__trial_opens.html

'Noose' trial opens
By MICHAEL HINKELMAN
Philadelphia Daily News

hinkelm@phillynews.com 215-854-2656

A senior electrician at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia said that he was "disgusted" when he saw a hangman's noose dangling inside the doorway of a supply shop frequented by a black electrician at the hospital.

The senior electrician, Michael Scroggins, made the comment during testimony on the first day of trial in federal district court yesterday for William Gould, a white electrician at Children's, charged with intimidating a fellow electrician, Darryl Sykes, who is black.

Gould has pleaded not guilty to a charge of racial intimidation. He was fired shortly after the incident in August 2008.

Gould gave a statement to investigators that he hung the noose, an arrest affidavit said.

He told investigators that he and Sykes were friends. Sykes told authorities that the noose intimidated him and that he perceived it as representative of lynchings.

If convicted of the misdemeanor offense, Gould could potentially face a year behind bars.

Prosecutors Eric Gibson and Melanie Wilmoth sought to portray Gould as a disgruntled worker who believed that his superiors were promoted or given "unfair advantage" because they were black, and that he had frequently complained to them about a mentoring program for minority employees at the hospital.

Scroggins testified that Gould told him that he was qualified to be the senior electrician only because he was black.

Earlier yesterday, John Huff, the supervisor of electrical, maintenance and construction workers at Children's, said that Gould told "racially-driven jokes."

Gibson asked Huff to describe some of the jokes. "I never let him finish the joke. They referred to people of color," Huff testified.

Mark Bricker, the hospital's director of facilities services, testified that Gould complained to him about "political correctness" after Bricker asked him to take down photographs in his workstation of Frank Rizzo, former mayor and police commissioner, and four white cops killed in the line of duty.

Bricker testified that Children's had a policy against "politically sensitive" displays.

Defense attorneys David Kozlow and Elizabeth Toplin suggested to jurors during cross-examination that Gould was not the racist provocateur portrayed by the government, that he was friendly with Sykes and that numerous other employees besides Gould had access to the electrical shop where the noose was hung.

Huff acknowledged under cross-examination by Toplin that Gould had served as a union delegate in a majority-black union representing workers in disputes with management.

Kozlow asked Scroggins if he knew that Gould had represented Sykes in a pay grievance against Children's. Scroggins said that he wasn't aware of that.

Kozlow did get Scroggins to admit that he, Gould and Sykes often had lunch together, and that Scroggins described the lunches as "cordial."

Scroggins also testified under cross-examination that about 30 to 40 other employees besides Gould had a key to the supply room where the noose was found.

Sykes is expected to take the stand this morning, and the defense could begin its case later today. It is not known whether Gould will testify.