Atmosphere of Violence

An argument and fight between panhandler Lester “Mule” Gardner and Abdul Azeem nee Joseph Randall at the Gas & Go Fast convenience store in the heart of the Mississippi Delta results in the shooting death of Azeem and the serious wounding of innocent bystander Trevor Brewer, who returned fire after being shot by Mule. District Attorney Willie Mitchell Banks initiates the prosecution of Mule, but forensic evidence reveals that it was a bullet from bystander Trevor Brewer’s gun that killed Azeem. A routine database check of Trevor’s gun reveals that it was the murder weapon in a racially motivated double homicide in Oklahoma City two years earlier. Azeem’s associates at the Muslim commune in rural Yaloquena County insist that the D.A. send Trevor Brewer to prison for life. When Willie Mitchell tells them the evidence shows that Trevor fired in self-defense, the commune leader Mohammed X threatens to take matters into his own hands. Trevor’s uncle, outlaw biker Freddy Brewer and his white supremacist biker gang, The Dregs, undertake to join forces with the Brewer Hill clan of sharpshooters to protect Trevor from the law and the Muslim militia. A twelve-person jury returns a verdict in Willie Mitchell Banks’ murder trial against Mule Gardner, but neither the Muslims, the outlaw bikers, or the Brewer clan is satisfied. More violence ensues, with D.A. Willie Mitchell Banks, his Assistant U.S. Attorney son Jake Banks, and Yaloquena County Sheriff Lee Jones caught in the middle.