Daily News from New York, New York • 253

Tuesday, April 11. 1989 DAILY NEWS 21 on oratrd OBdc ggDUQ 'No doubt' race was motive, say lawyers in appeal By RUBEN ROSARIO and STUART MARQUES Daily News Staff Writers Lawyers for three white men convicted of manslaughter in the Howard Beach case acknowledged for the first time yesterday the attack was racially motivated. "There's no doubt this was a racially motivated incident, but is that sufficient to prove reckless conduct (required for a manslaughter conviction)?" lawyer John Pollok asked a five-member panel in Brooklyn appellate court. "At most you might have legal grounds for criminally negligent homicide." old black man who was struck by a car when he was chased onto the Belt Parkway. Selection question They also were convicted of assault for beating a second black man, Cedric Sandiford.

The third black, Timothy Grimes, escaped unharmed. During jury selection before trial, Queens Supreme Court Justice Thomas Dema-kos accused the defense lawyers of using peremptory challenges to keep blacks off the jury, citing a U.S. Su preme Court case that said prosecutors cannot exclude jurors because of race. Prosecutor Arthur Wein-stein told the appeals panel it is wrong to allow any lawyer to use race to exclude a potential juror. "Are we going to tolerate in a courtroom what we won't tolerate in a rest room or a cafeteria?" he asked.

Lester is serving a 10-to-30-year term. Kern was sentenced to 6 to 18 years and Ladone was sentenced to 5 to 15 years. Kern and Ladone are free pending appeal. months after this tragedy, somebody representing these defendants finally admitted it was a racially motivated killing." The defendants' lawyers told the panel the convictions should be overturned because the trial judge restricted the defense team's right to use peremptory challenges in jury selection. They also said their clients were improperly detained and were convicted on "insufficient" evidence.

The three were convicted of manslaughter in the death of Michael Griffith, a 23-year- TTBikb tedi-wgI Csitils duo ft The lawyers handling the appeal for Jon Lester, 19, Scott Kern, 20, and Jason La-done, 18, did not represent the three at their 1987 trial. The trial lawyers had argued that the December 1986 attack in which a gang of whites beat and chased three blacks, one of them to his death was not racially motivated. 'Extraordinary' note Special prosecutor Charles Hynes told reporters Pollok's statement was "an extraordinary admission. Twenty-eight duo By DAVID J. KRAJICEK Daily News Police Bureau Chief Detectives investigating the murder of a young Brooklyn woman and the disappearance of her 6-week-old son last month are focusing on a mysterious phone call to the victim's home just after the slaying, the Daily News has learned.

Two days after Monique Rivera's slaying, as her family planned a funeral, a woman phoned to speak to her, sources said. "Is Monique there?" the woman asked. "Who's calling?" asked Monique's grieving mother, Anna. "This is Joan Walker." "Monique is dead," the By MIKE SANTANGELO Datry News Staff Writer Harmony and poetry prevailed at City Hall for a change yesterday as 18 city school children came to get their prizes in the third annual Daily News Racial and Ethnic Harmony poetry contest Estina Pope, 10, of Harlem's Public School 154, stood at the front of the Blue Room and read her winning verse, about a future in which she sees "all people holding hands in the street" As she finished, Mayor Koch handed her a plaque and she returned his smile. Estina smiled again as she accepted a $200 savings bond donated by McDonald's, which co-sponsored the contest Estina was followed by 17 other winners, ages 8 to 17, from all five boroughs.

The standouts included Tracy St Hill, 12, of Flat-bush's Intermediate School 227. She said she got the idea for her winning poem by reading the newspapers and watching TV. Houaip plates. Authorities have issued a nationwide alarm for Andre. But detectives theorize that if "Joan Walker" was one of the two women, she may have not participated in the murder.

Police are expected to make a public plea for her to come forward. The woman driving was dark-skinned, about 35 and was wearing sunglasses. The second woman possibly a former schoolmate of Rivera's was described as a light-skinned black or Hispanic with bushy red or orange hair. She was wearing white slacks and a red leather jacket WINNERS' STANZA WITH HIZZONER: A plaque and a $200 savings bond were the prizes at City Hail schools in all five boroughs who won Daily News Racial and Ethnic Harmony verse contest. doh dls)(is7 GDr3 yesterday for tne poets from city eo mouham daily news Most cops on the case believe the two hatched a bizarre murder plot to steal Rivera's 6-week-old son, Andre Bryant Two days before Rivera's body turned up, the women treated Rivera and her three children to lunch at McDonald's, then took them on a shopping spree, using stolen credit cards to buy clothes later found in Rivera's apartment The next day, they invited Rivera and her 6-week-old son, Andre Bryant to go shopping at a mall in Westchester County.

The four drove off in a 1988 or 1989 burgundy Pon-tiac Grand Am, possibly with Maryland license Jury selection for Gene Gotti Jury selection began in Brooklyn yesterday in the longest-pending erinH: inat case in the country's federal court system, the third drug-trafficking trial of reputed Gambino mobster Gene Gotti Gotti, 42, the younger brother of reputed crime czar John Gotti, was among 10 mob-connected defendants whose first trial on charges of run" ning a heroin ring ended in a mistriaL Gotti and alleged Gambino soldiers John Car-ncglia and Angelo Rug-giero later got a second mistriaL Yesterday, Brooklyn Federal Judge John Bar-tels ruled that Ruggiero, 47, was too ill to stand trial and severed his case. Ruben Rosario mother said. "Monique can't be dead," said the woman. "I was just shopping with her the last two days." The address the woman gave Anna Rivera did not check out police said, but the phone call gives detectives their best shred of evidence in a case otherwise devoid of leads. Rivera's body bludgeoned and then strangled with a scarf she was wearing was found by a jogger March 30 on the shore of Eastchester Bay in the Bronx.

The prime suspects in the case are two women whom Rivera, 22, met the week of her murder while shopping in her neighborhood..