Brian Deneke Punk Martyr
... At around 11:30 on the night of December 12th, 1997, in Amarillo, Texas, Brian Deneke was killed in the parking lot of a shopping center by Dustin Camp, he was nineteen years old. ... One punk, Chris Oles, said the jocks began harassing him when he was forced to walk past them on the way to the restroom; one of the jocks, Justin Devore, says Oles egged them on by repeatedly pulling up his shirt and exposing what appeared to be a knife handle. ... As the fight ensued, Dustin Camp with passengers Elise Thompson and Rob Mansfield inside ran his Cadillac in the crowd striking Deneke and pulling his body under the car. ... Jason [Deneke’s brother] put his arms around him and held him while he died. ... Dustin Camp was arrested for the murder of Brian Deneke. In his written statement, Camp, who was 17 at the time of Denekes death, said, "I was just going to knock him [Deneke] down with my car. ... ) As the defense attorneys began their case, they called in to question Deneke’s character. ... Richard Weathers who said he arrested Deneke in 1995 on a Randall County warrant for criminal mischief. ... Rickwartz then showed the jury a T-shirt Deneke was wearing featuring several slogans, including "Fight our oppressors not each other" and "Smash government corruption. ... Defense attorneys called Deneke and his friend’s goons, sociopaths, and thugs. ... “When Camp bore down on Deneke, he never wavered, never hit his brakes and drove his car over a median to strike Deneke. ... In his opening statement, Clark said that Camp used the Cadillac to keep Deneke from killing his friend, Justin Devore, the defense’s argument that Camp acted to defend Devore is supported by the testimonies of Devore and Thompson. “[Brian] Deneke was a violent person, and maybe it took violence by Dustin Camp to stop his violence to protect an innocent life;” Clark said. ... Dustin Camp would never have to pay a dime for killing Brian Deneke. After the trial Clark said of Deneke’s friends’ anger of the judgment: "A good friend got run down. ... ) Brian did not die because he deserved to. Brian did not die because he asked to. Brian died because he was different. ... He was a free spirit, in a town where many who live there complain that there is nothing to do; Brian always managed to find something. He was always encouraging the people around him to do something to make their town a better place, by publishing magazines, putting together punk rock shows, to talking out of town bands into playing free shows in the park while paying for their expenses from the money he saved.