A Texas lawyer and his psychologist wife played key roles in the Center's successful pursuit of justice for Billy Ray Johnson, a black man with mental retardation who was ridiculed, assaulted and left for dead on a desolate country road by four young white men. The Center sued on his behalf, and on April 20, a jury awarded him $9 million.

A civil jury in Linden, Texas, today awarded approximately $9 million in damages to Billy Ray Johnson, a mentally disabled black man who was taunted, knocked unconscious and dumped along a desolate road by four white men in September 2003.

Over the past couple of months, the trial team, led by Morris Dees, has been in Kentucky preparing for the Imperial Klans of America (IKA) case.