Jury finds against ex-NBA player in bias case

ATLANTA (AP) - A jury has found that an upscale Atlanta restaurant did not violate the civil rights of an ex-NBA All Star and a friend who claim they were ousted from the bar because they were black...

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ATLANTA (AP) — A jury has found that an upscale Atlanta restaurant did not violate the civil rights of an ex-NBA All Star and a friend who claim they were ousted from the bar because they were black.

The panel of nine white members and three blacks deliberated just 15 minutes before deciding that Joe Barry Carroll and Joseph Shaw were not subject to racial discrimination.

Jeffrey Bramlett said his clients were humiliated and embarrassed when a security guard escorted them from the Tavern at Phipps in August 2006 after they refused to give up their seats to a pair of white women.

But defense lawyer Ernest Greer argued that the request came as a part of a long-standing practice rooted in Southern hospitality that allows women to sit at the bar when it’s crowded.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.

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