A federal judge denied bond on Friday to a white Texas man charged with punching an elderly black man in a suspected race-based attack that the accused recorded as a video with his cell phone, court records show. Conrad Alvin Barrett, 27, is suspected of striking the 79-year-old victim with a single blow that fractured his jaw in two places, according to the criminal complaint filed in federal court in Houston. He stalked his victim," U.S. Magistrate Judge Frances H. Stacy said in court records on Friday, calling the attack vicious. Barrett was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 2004 and has been treated with lithium and an anti-depressant, his lawyer George Parnham said, noting that his client also has a history of substance and alcohol abuse.

More...