A local civil rights group is taking to task Kenosha County District Attorney Robert Zapf and a jury, which found a Racine man guilty of felony murder this month.

On Saturday, the Kenosha NAACP executive board issued a statement saying Zapf “got it wrong” when he changed a battery charge against Martin L. Walker to felony aggravated battery to prosecute him for felony murder.

The statement was sent to the Kenosha News by the Rev. Michael Coleman, president of the local branch.

Earlier this month, a jury found Walker guilty of felony murder after a one-punch fight between him and Colin Byars of Kenosha resulted in Byars’ death.

Leaders of the Kenosha and Racine NAACP branches said they would be monitoring Walker’s Feb. 11 sentencing. They are concerned about how the courts treat blacks convicted of crimes vs. their white counterparts.

Walker could face 22 years in prison.

“We believe that our justice system varies when it comes to blacks as it does to whites. We all know that pre-existing prejudices do come to mind whenever a black male is involved with the law,” the statement reads.

“It has been documented that blacks do not get the same results from our justice system as do whites committing the same crimes. Why is it more likely for black males to go to jail and serve a longer sentence than whites committing the same crimes?”

‘Don’t know the facts’

Zapf said the organization is entitled to its opinion. But he also took the civil rights group to task about using race, rather than examining the facts and the law, to further an agenda.

“It’s a sad day when people who don’t know the facts, don’t know the law, didn’t appear in court and weren’t on the jury to then use the race card to vent their disappointment to what the verdict was,” he said.

“Fourteen of our citizens sat and listened to all the evidence as it was presented. Twelve of them had the decision and voted unanimously in finding the defendant guilty.”

Lesser charge

The organization questioned what testimony was being considered, adding that both Walker, who is black, and Byars, who was white, mutually consented to fight.

NAACP officials said the jury could have opted to convict Walker of just aggravated battery.

“Did not the testimony of witnesses come into play? They stated that they both put up their hands in a boxer’s stance,” the statement read.

NAACP officials said they were not suggesting that what Walker did was acceptable but that Zapf could have and should have maintained the initial misdemeanor battery charge.

“Again we are not saying nor condoning Walker’s choice to fight, but felony murder is too much.”

Zapf defends charge

Zapf said the charge he filed and the conviction returned by the jury was the appropriate action and response.

The jury on Jan. 15, found that aggravated battery caused, or was a substantial factor in, Byars’ Feb. 21, 2009, death. Unlike a traditional homicide charge, in which prosecutors have to show intent or negligence in a death, felony murder is a way for prosecutors to charge someone for the deadly consequences of their behavior, such as a battery.

The jury was carefully chosen, Zapf said, and the judge took pains to make sure the jury was “antiseptic.”

The panel included minorities, he said.

“They were deliberating, and they took their time,” he said. “I think it’s an undermining of the jury system to have the people in the gallery ... second guess what our citizens decide ... and they determined he was guilty.

“So, to use the race card is disingenuous to the jury’s verdict and to the system of law that we have,” Zapf said.