that conviction was overturned. how did he end up back in prison? >> you must have been crushed, crushed when they told you you had to go back. prescription for cheating. they read our x-rays but a cnn investigation over the certification of many radiologists. >> isn't it cheating? >> revealing investigation, fascinating characters and impact. tonight's hosts, randi kaye and drew griffin. >> tonight, hard hitting investigations into racism, cheating and injustice. we begin with a murder in mississippi, a brutal killing fueled by race and ranl. we broke the story of a young white teenager accused of killing a black man just because of the color of his skin. >> over our four month investigation we found even more disturbing details uncovering how the teenager and some of his friends had a history of violent and racist incidents and questioning whether authorities turned a blind eye. i've been following this story from the very beginning. ♪ ♪ >> june 26th in mississippi would bring temperatures into the 90s. a breeze out of the southwest would barely move the state flag enough to see that confederate battle symbol still displayed in its upper left corner. at 4:00 a.m. on this sunday morning, most of mississippi was still asleep. but for a group of teenagers, white teenagers barrelling west on interstate 20, a mission was already under way. they were headed to jackson, because in their segregated world, jackson is where the black people live. >> they were looking for black people. they were looking for a black person to assault. >> mississippi's district attorney, robert shuller smith says evidence shows those white mississippi teens had just one thing in mind. >> they discussed, let's go get, let's be honest, let's go get a -- right? >> that's exactly right. >> it was still dark when james craig anderson walked out of a motel towards his car in a parking lot of jackson's ellis avenue. smith says that's when the white teenager saw him, james, a black man, alone. it is hard to imagine what happened next without using the term "hate." the teenagers were mostly right in the county were being led by an 18-year-old, darrell edmond, who had a history of harassing teens at his high school by certainly accounts from parents and students who knew him, hated black, hated white people who had black friends, hated anyone he thought was gay. on this sunday morning, after a night of drinking, he and his friends, witnesses have told police, were out to act on that hate. some of the teens there that night would tell police the teenagers attacked that lone black man without any provocation, repeatedly beating anderson, yelling white power. then, one of the vehicles drives of off. >> darrell dedman apparently wasn't through. he had two girls in his truck as we was leaving this parking lot, a big f-250 pickup truck. james craig anderson, the man beaten almost to a pulp was stumbling down this curb. that's when police say darrell dedman hit the gas, jumped the curb and ran right over his victim, smashing him. what he didn't know was the entire episode was being caught on a surveillance camera on the corner of this hotel. this is what was caught on that tape, obtained exclusively by cnn and we warn you, it is disturbing. james craig anderson first comes into view in the right lower corner of the screen after he was beaten, accord though police. he staggers into the head rights of mr. dedman's truck, his shirt easily visible. then the truck backs up, surges forward, the headlights glowing brightly on anderson's shirt before he and that shirt disappear underneath it. the truck runs right over the defenseless man. >> after he does that, he drives to an mcdonald's, he picks up the phone, apparently calls a buddy and says what? >> according to the testimony, i ran that -- over. >> witnesses say he almost was bragging about it, that he was laughing about it really. >> that's what we plan to present. >> darrell dedman pleaded not guilty at first. his attorney refused to answer cnn's many calls for comment although during one court appearance, that attorney said he did not see any evidence racism was involved. the district attorney says nothing else was involved. he classified this as capital murder and a hate crime. you would think it would be a wake-up call for any town where that kind of hate could fester. but this is brandon, mississippi. think again. >> it's an unfortunate incident. it happened but it -- once it happened, we haven't gone into code red, oh, my god, we've got a major problem. let's stop traffic and everybody needs to go home and lock our doors. you know, we just kind of keep going doing what we do. >> here, where a confederate war memorial stands at the center of town, police say there were no warning signs. but we found the police were wrong. cnn learned investigators were looking into allegations darrell and his friends had a pattern of racism and violence. >> how did they get away with this? >> they just never got in trouble like they would be told on and the cops wouldn't do anything to them. they'd let them go. >> school officials ever intervene? >> no. let them go. coming up, did a town's indifference help lead to murder? reer, it took a mighty machine, and plain old ingenuity to go where no fifth grader had gone before. ♪ and she flew and she flew, into the sky and beyond. my name is annie and i'm the girl who dreamed she could fly. powered by intel core processors. ♪ do you have any idea where you're going ? wherever the wind takes me. this is so off course. nature can surprise you sometimes... next time, you drive. next time, signal your turn. ...that's why we got a subaru. love wherever the road takes you. 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[ male announcer ] stop the uh-oh fast with kaopectate. the death of james craig anderson was like the dark mississippi past come back to life. prosecutor, robert smith, had only heard the tales of racial hatred from his grandfather who helped and housed civil rights leaders like dr. edgars and dr. martin lu ther kither king jr. it was before he was even born when both men were shot down in a terrible wave of violence. on june sixth of last year, that ughbly past was suddenly present. >> when you first saw the surveillance video, what was your reaction? >> certainly breathtaking, unbelievable. i thought about the fact that that could have been anyone, including myself. >> the district attorney at first charged deryl dedmon the teen driving the truck that killed anderson with capital murder. a second teen was charged with simple assault. five other white teenagers who were there were not charged. anderson's family has kept their grief and frustration mostly private. after a court hearing, anderson's sister could not contain her emotions. >> go to brandon, mississippi. go to brandon, mississippi and get those other five murderers who committed such an horrendous violent act against my beloved brother, james craig anderson. >> you have to drive east to brand brandon, across the pearl river, the invisible line that seems to separate black mississippi from white. while in jackson, anderson's killing prompted marches and a call for healing. in brandon, the reaction was mostly silent. brandon police wouldn't even return cnn's phone calls. >> is the chief in? >> it was an assistant police chief who finally came out to say, there was no story here. >> are you concerned a lot of these kids are from rankin county? not just one or two but seven of them that drove over there and took part in this. >> you're right. i can't -- you know, you will have a couple of bad seeds. one guy ran over the individual, not all six, so you know i can't -- i hate that it happened and i wish to god it didn't happen here or anywhere, but as far as it being, you know, we have a national problem, we don't have any more problem than any other city. it's just an isolated incident and you can quote me on that. >> but it didn't take us long to find out it wasn't an isolated incident. derrell dedmon had a criminal history, arrested and convicted of harassment earlier last year. two years ago this local pastor said he had to call police when his son was being harassed. >> i had told jordan for a year and a half that deryl dedmon will kill you. >> he had a look of no consci s conscien conscience. he was blank stare. derrell always carried around this backpack of hatred. >> other students also told us they were bullied or beaten by dedmon and his friends, who called people n -- lovers if they befriended blacks. we were told school administrators mostly looked the other way as bullying and hatredfestered. they declined our requests but a spokesman said they take bullying seriously and they had no record of any trouble from derrell dedmon. students told us dedmon and his friends were a problem, using racial slurs, calling blacks and even president obama the "n" word. ken johnson used to manage a gas station where dedmon and his friends used to hang out. >> it seems like every word that came out of their mouth was the "n" word. if they're taking over, as if it was some kind of war. >> dedmon's family refused to talk to cnn, so did dedmon's attorney. this man did. swun once close to dedmon and his friends, he now fears them. >> i believe every one of these kids that occurred in the incident are dangerous and capable of many things. i just don't want my image to be seen because i'm really worried about it. >> this man told us there were other violent and racial incidents with dedmon and other friends of his. >> did they ever go looking for black people, hunting, literally? >> yes. they're known as the -- like i said the brandon boys but they're also known as the racist kids, the white group. >> cnn has learned federal investigators from the department of justice have uncovered two other possible incidents, where groups of white, rankin county teens, including dedmon, have sought out and attacked a black person. >> have you guys been concerned about these guys? >> nope. >> not at all? >> nope. >> this man says racism is behind brandon, mississippi's silence. >> do you believe there's a lot of people in brandon, mississippi, that may feel the same way about the killing of a black man? >> yes. yes. i've even heard it out of some of the police officers' mouths, that this is their statement, deryl was a good kid. he just made one bad mistake. >> after initially pleading not guilty to murder, derrell dedmon just this past march changed his plea to guilty in a state court. the next day, dedmon and two others there that night pleaded guilty to committing federal hate crimes and admitted to a month's long pattern of brutal harassment against blacks. dedmon was given two life sentences for his murder plea. the others have yet to be sentenced. up next, was it murder or a miscarriage of justice? 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>> made him a deadly threat. >> back in the store, rich said he saw campbell strike his father not once but twice with the metal bat. >> i saw him up with the bat and he started to swing. that's when i reached for the gun. >> the off-duty officer grabbed the gun from under the cash register and raced outside, firing three times, hitting charles campbell in this middle of his chest. >> somebody was shot. >> from the time that bat came out until the time the incident was over, it was matter of four seconds, five seconds, and my training just kicked in. >> he doesn't remember the moments immediately after the shooting, only that one of the responding officers handed him the gun and asked for help removing the bullet clip. then he, his father and brother-in-law were taken to the police station. >> we want what? when do we want it? >> rumors spread like wildfire that the shooting was racially motivated confirmed in part by the district attorney. >> there were racial epithets that the victim was cursed at, at the time just prior to the shooting. that information has been confirmed? did you ever use any racial slurs? >> we never used a curse word and we never used any racial words at all, none. >> his son's -- >> campbell's brother, william was not there but came to understand events. >> he was going to get to his car and came out from under his truck and said, die -- die and shot him. >> the eyewitness 30 feet away did not hear any racial slurs instead telling the news crew he saw the bat aimed at the elder man. >> full force swings hitting him in the head and at least the leg pretty much what i saw. you called hear the smacks at least 20 feet away. to see your father getting hit with a bat. it was self-defense, what i saw. >> i remember at one point on television, you see your father getting beat, you have to do something. it was strictly self-defense. i remember saying, thank god for this witness. >> we brought murder charges. >> but that same night, district attorney piro charged richie with both intentional murder and murder with depraved indifference. >> i was like, how is this murder? i don't understand it. >> so this is the first time you killed a man? how heavily does that weigh on you? >> not a day i don't think about it. i believe i saved my father's life that day. >> coming up, the trial that outraged a judge. >> was this a miscarriage of justice? >> i believe it was a miscarriage of justice. i'm the second owner. the what? i will own this car after you. look, i'm not telling you how to drive our car. our car? if you're gonna have a latte in the car, keep a lid on it. it's a cappuccino. still needs a lid. 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[ male announcer ] one pill each morning. 24 hours. zero heartburn. richard deguglielmo serena is consumed by the shooting that sent his son to prison to serve 20 to life. >> i wish my son was never there, whether i got killed or not, doesn't make any difference to me. what do i have now? my family is torn apart, literally torn apart. where's my son? >> we wanted to talk about the shooting to both the dobbs ferry police department and the westchester county district attorney janine piero. repeated requests were denied. in her book, pirro says no question, the shooting was racially motivated. race dominated the headlines but never came up at trial. instead, prosecutors claimed deguglielmo shot charles campbell in a murderous rage. assistant district attorney, patricia murphy telling the jury, quote, this is a case about revenge, this is a case about retribution, this is a case about payback. prosecutors argue the father, son and son-in-law ganged up on campbell so campbell had no schois but to grab a bat from his car. >> i know chaz. when he grabbed that bat, the idea of getting that bat was to just show either back on up, you know, i'm not trying to start nothing