Hate Crime: Jailed Mississippi Teen Suspected of Hit-and-Run Isolated from Other Inmates

A white teen facing a capital murder charge in the hit-and-run death of a black man in Mississippi is being isolated from other inmates.

Hinds County Sheriff's Department spokesman Lt. Jeffery Scott said the publicity surrounding the case of 19-year-old Deryl Dedmon has resulted in the decision to isolate him, the Clarion Ledger reported.

Dedmon has been charged with intentionally running over James Craig Anderson on June 26 in what authorities said was a hate crime.

It is believed that Dedmon was among a group of white teens who allegedly set out to kill Anderson because of his color.

CNN reported that Anderson, 49, was first beaten by the group of teens as he stood in a hotel parking lot early that morning in June. This, according to some of the teens who were interviewed by police.

After beating Anderson, a group of the teens then mowed him down with a large Ford pickup truck, according to witnesses and officials.

Anderson later died from his injuries that same day.

Hinds County District Attorney Robert Shuler Smith has said he will be seeking indictments against some or all of the white teens in coming weeks. He has also called in federal investigators.

This was a racially motivated murder, committed because the victim was black. We want to prosecute and bring justice in this case to the fullest extent of the law, Smith told CNN, explaining that he called Justice Department officials and asked for more investigators to come to Mississippi to help interview witnesses and pursue leads in the crime.

It is believed that the group of teens that night was led by Dedmon, who is from Brandon, Mississippi., and he could face two life sentences in connection with the killing, CNN reported.

Another teen, John Aaron Rice, was also charged with murder at first, until a judge reduced his charges because Rice was not believed to be driving the vehicle used to kill Anderson, the CNN report noted.

WJTV has reported that the victim's sister, Barbara Anderson Young, said she's unhappy that Dedmon and Rice are the only ones facing charges.