Jury finds bar fight an organized crime

DALLAS - A man accused of severely beating another man during a bar fight was found guilty Monday of engaging in organized criminal activity.

A jury of seven men and five women deliberated nearly three hours in the trial that could send Jesse Chaddock, 28, to prison for five to 99 years in the beating of David Cunniff, a contractor.

Emotional outbursts could be heard in the courtroom from several women, who identified themselves as friends of Chaddock, after the verdict was read.

The punishment phase began after the verdict was read and will continue today.

During the trial, several witnesses testified that on July 26, Chaddock knocked Cunniff to the ground and slammed his head several times against the concrete floor of the Gypsy Tea Room in the Deep Ellum area of downtown Dallas. The attack occurred during a performance of the Old 97's band.

Cunniff, 45, has testified that he couldn't move his limbs for several weeks after the beating, but regained his ability to walk through an experimental treatment involving robotics at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas. Cunniff said he is unable to continue his career as a building contractor.

The case focused heavily on Chaddock's ties with a neo-Nazi skinhead group, the Confederate Hammerskins. It also focussed on Chaddock's criminal history that included the 1996 stabbing of a black security guard.

Andy Beach, a Dallas County assistant district attorney, said Chaddock was the aggressor and boasted about being a member of the Confederate Hammerskins. Beach said Cunniff didn't know that he was getting into a confrontation with a member of a skinhead group at the club.