Name Interstate rock-throwing | ||
Julie Catherine Laible, was a young professor at the University of Alabama killed by a large rock thrown at her car from an overpass while she was driving along Interstate 75 (I-75) in Manatee County, Florida, on March 28, 1999.
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Incident
A rock was thrown or dropped onto a random passing car from an overpass along I-75 hitting the car Laible was driving. Tara Sue Wells, a graduate student who was a passenger in the car, managed to steer it safely to the side of the road. She would testify at the trials of the rock throwers. The rock, which weighed 22 pounds (10.0 kg), smashed through the windshield hitting the professor in the head and inflicting a fatal injury.
Several other cars were damaged by rocks thrown from that overpass during that weekend.
Laible's death "shocked" Tuscaloosa, home of the University of Alabama, where the trials were followed closely. Labile was an Assistant Professor of Educational Leadership and Policy at the University of Alabama from 1995 until her death in 1999. She is remembered for her anti-racism scholarship and activism.
Perpetrators
Juan Cardenas, 19, of Wimauma, Florida, the "alleged ringleader" in the crime, was convicted of second-degree murder for hurling the rock that killed Laible. Cardenas was sentenced to serve life in prison.
Jesus Dominguez, 19, of Ellenton, Florida, was charged with driving the truck in which Juan Cardenas and Noe Ramierez (a juvenile at the time) rode on the night of the murder. During the 16 months following his arrest, Dominguez was permitted to move about freely wearing an ankle bracelet that recorded whether he was in his home or had left the house, but not his precise whereabouts. In addition, the judge reduced his bail from $100,000.00 to $25,000.00, enabling his family to post bail. On August 30, 2000 the night before he was scheduled to plead guilty to second-degree murder, Dominguez fled. He was listed on the Sheriff of Manatee County's list of the five most-wanted fugitives. He is believed to have been living in Matamoros, Mexico, but authorities received a tip that he would be visiting Brownsville, Texas, where he was arrested in August 2001. Dominguez was extradited back to Manatee County. After being returned to Florida to stand trial, Dominguez agreed to plea no contest to a charge of second degree murder, and to admit to driving the car on the night of the murder. Dominguez was sentenced to serve 21 years in prison.
Noe Ramierez, 16, of Palmetto, Florida was tried as a juvenile. After spending 58 days in a juvenile detention facility, he was convicted of culpable negligence and sentenced to 180 days of house arrest.
Memorial
An endowed lecture series, the Julie C. Laible Memorial Lecture Series on Anti-Racist Scholarship, Education and Social Activism, was created at the University of Alabama in Professor Laible's memory.