Demand Justice For Dione Payne : 16 year old African American who was beaten to death

Dione Payne, 16, was beaten to death in Dayton, OH during a drug deal.

The NY Daily News, the first news source to report the murder, seemed more interested in the troubled past of the victim than the suspects of the horrendous crime.

While murder charges have been handed down to Michael A. Geldrich, 36, and Michael J. Watson, 39, for the December 1 beating death of Payne, Payne was allegedly also sexually assaulted during the attack.

Miami Valley Hospital personnel contacted Middletown police and stated the teen had been sexually assaulted, according to the police report. But thus far, no rape charges have been brought, and hate crime charges have been dismissed point blank by Franklin Police Chief Russ Whitman, who said there is “no evidence” that there was a racial motive to the rape and murder of this 16-year-old African American.

Dione Payne allegedly beaten

Geldrich and Watson are alleged to have tied Payne up with duct tape, placed a pillowcase over his head, and beat him with a wooden table leg over the course of several hours. They then strip-searched Payne in an attempt to locate drugs.

Why are they sweeping the story of Dione Payne under the rug?

To add insult to injury, some local media reports have fixated on a checkered history of the juvenile: possessing narcotics, and even allegations that he had fired gun shots in the past. They talked about morbid comments made on his Facebook account before the day he was raped and beaten to death.

They even called the Dion Payne out for getting arrested for littering. What they did not do was explain why the police have ruled out a racial motive to the attack, and why the Franklin City Prosecutor has neither pursued hate crime charges, nor even charged the attackers with rape.

News outlets, let’s stop talking about this young man’s checkered past and look at the real issue at hand. No matter what this young man did in his past, he was murdered and raped by men 20 years his elder.

If this was your son, what would you want done?

Petition

A petition has started to demand rape charges be brought against Geldrich and Watson.

Sign the petition below:
Demand Justice For Dione Payne

Spread the word. Let’s not keep this swept under the rug!