Alonzo Rufus Witherspoon was a well-respected church deacon at Mt. Carmel Missionary Baptist Church in Denver and had served in the military. He was 65.
Alonzo Rufus Witherspoon, 65
Clementus Cletus Williams, the son of parents both serving prison terms, was out on bail on a robbery arrest of a grocery store in Aurora. He was 15.
Witherspoon had been known for counseling kids like Williams at his church. But on Sept. 13, 2000, he and Williams allegedly clashed in a brief road rage incident on 29th Avenue and Adams Street.
Witherspoon was shot to death in an apparant road rage incident.
Authorities believed so strongly that Williams was responsible that they arrested him and then-district attorney Bill Ritter charged him as an adult with first degree murder.
But Williams was not found guilty of murder, nor was he acquitted. He didn’t even have a trial at all.