2 Guilty Of Murder In Racial Killings

SALEM, Ore.

Two men were found guilty of murder yesterday in the racially motivated firebombing deaths of two Salem residents last fall.

The jury also convicted Leon Tucker, 22, and Philip Wilson, 21, on charges of assault, arson and racial intimidation, but acquitted them of aggravated murder. Yolanda Cotton, 20, was acquitted on all charges.

The three were accused of killing Hattie Mae Cohens, 29, and Brian Mock, 45, by tossing two gasoline-filled bottles into Cohens' basement apartment. Six other people sleeping in the apartment were injured when the fire broke out early Sept. 26.

Cohens and four of the other people in the apartment were black. The defendants are white.

During closing arguments, a prosecutor claimed the slayings were deliberate and the defendants were clearly racists.

But defense attorney Kevin Lafky called it "a sad, tragic collapse in judgment" he blamed partly on drunkenness.