An avowed white supremacist with a long criminal rap sheet was sentenced January 10 in a Texas district court to four concurrent life sentences for the racially charged stabbing of four Black teen-agers.

Barney Dewain Oldfield, 27, was found guilty on four counts of aggravated assault in the July 4, 2001 altercation, in which several of the victims sustained serious stab wounds. No one was killed in the attack, and Oldfield claimed that he was acting in self defense.

Prosecutors filed enhanced charges against Oldfield because he had previous felony convictions for burglary and cocaine possession. They said Oldfield, who has already served prison time, was committing progressively worse crimes.

Oldfield, who has tattoos of Adolf Hitler and the phrase "white power" on his leg, admitted to police as part of his confession that he was a white supremacist. He later denied his racism, saying that he got the tattoos to receive protection from other whites in the prison.

Oldfield will be eligible for parole in 30 years.

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