More than two years after Bernhard Goetz pulled out a revolver and shot four black teenagers who had demanded $5 from him in a Manhattan subway car, his case went before a New York City jury last week. The panel of two blacks and ten whites, half of whom have been victims of crime, will try to settle a question millions have debated since the December 1984 episode: Was the subway vigilante justified in defending himself against what he saw as an imminent attack, or was he a trigger-happy racist poised to strike at the slightest provocation?
As his trial opened...
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