Murderous thugs acquitted of gunning down unarmed guy

[sabotabby]

The cops who shot Sean Bell 50 times got away with it. Of course.

Just like the ones who killed Amadou Diallo.



The American justice system, ladies and gentlemen. Gotta love it.

Comments

[ladypolitik.livejournal.com]

Oh, for fuck's sake...?

...Actually, colour me unsurprised.

Thanks for this link.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_ex_cowboy/]

not that i didn't see this coming but it's still depressing. i like how it says they "opted" for the grand jury. can't imagine that it had anything to do with the fact that invisible fourth suspect escaping with invisible gun defense wouldn't have floated as easily with a jury?

[curgoth]

On the plus side, our courts have ruled that it's a charter violation to have police walk around with drug sniffing dogs randomly just to see what they might find.

On the down side, the appeals court says it's okay to include illegally obtained evidence in trial if it's "serious", like a gun, or weed.

[xturtle.livejournal.com]

... yet again.

It's really time to stop allowing "I though he had a gun" as justification for shooting when your police force clearly thinks anyone who's not so white he's transparent is carrying.

[sabotabby]

Now I'm wondering if "I thought he had a gun" has ever been an unsuccessful defense. I haven't done the research, but it seems to me that it works every time.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_ex_cowboy/]

plenty of times for people who aren't cops. it wouldn't matter if it was in the middle of american idol, that defense would still work. a conviction would set a precedent of accountability that is restrictive to the fine work the US justice system does.

[squirtlle.livejournal.com]

florida's stand your ground law

In any place where a person “has a right to be,” that person has “no duty to retreat” if attacked and may “meet force with force, including deadly force if he or she reasonably believes it is necessary to do so to prevent death or great bodily harm to himself or herself or another to prevent the commission of a forcible felony.”

however, you still cannot shoot a police officer, even if they are the attacker.

[mcpreacher.livejournal.com]

in light of cases like this it's important to remember who the real criminals are:

the military

[austintacious.livejournal.com]

I wish I could say I'm surprised, but I'm just disgusted.

[ilipodscrill.livejournal.com]

yes, i wish surprise were on my list of emotions, but rage is right up there.

[saladbar.livejournal.com]

What?

[terry-terrible.livejournal.com]

I'd post something intelligent right now.....but I'm I'm allergic to lead slugs.

[terry-terrible.livejournal.com]

P.S. Despite my snark, duck I'm a mad as hell at this. I wonder if New York will burn tonight?

[mcpreacher.livejournal.com]

[simienwolf.livejournal.com]

Augh. This makes me want to cry.

[robotar.livejournal.com]

i wonder how much more this city can take before we have some rodney-king-style riots here in brklyn. i am pretty profoundly disturbed. this case was (yet another) perversion of justice.

[peterbilt-47.livejournal.com]

The free pass the police get in this country is appalling. As if their ever having to be even remotely accountable for their actions is an invitation to blood in the streets.

OFFS. That is my new internets abbreviation for "Oh for fuck's sake."

ETA, OK, I just actually read the article. They couldn't even get them on reckless endangerment? NOTHING?! Seriously, fifty bullets fired to zero bullets fired and no gun anywhere near.... FuckingA, OK, shit, blarr.

[eumelia.livejournal.com]

Disgusting and to our endless misfortune very, very unsurprising.

I don't live across the pond, but I've seen too many of these kinds of things happen here that I can hardly feel outrage anymore... it's my default.

[fannishnonsense]

I knew it. I knew this was going to happen, but it still makes me want to cry. Fuck.

[marnanel.livejournal.com]

I am sad that I read up on this case with interest while it was happening, and then when I opened BBC News this morning and "Cops acquitted" was a headline in the sidebar, I thought... yeah, no shit... and read something else. I want to live in a world where I'm shocked about this sort of thing. Fuck, make that "surprised".

[faithhopetricks.livejournal.com]

Fucking fuck.

I thought -- no, pretty much expected -- that might happen, but that doesn't lessen the sickening horror of when it actually does.

[laughingimp.livejournal.com]

In possibly related news, Chicago Mayor Daley says that police officers should be issued M4 carbine rifles. I can't see any possible problem that might arise from this.

[smhwpf.livejournal.com]

Fucking hell.

Not in the least surprising. In both the US and Britain - and I suspect most countries - it is more or less impossible to have a member of the security forces convicted for killing someone. (Of whatever colour, although of course non-white people are far, far more likely to be the victims.) The Harry Stanley case, Jean-Paul de Menezes, and then the two soldiers who actually were convicted of murdering a teenage woman in Northern Ireland and imprisoned, but then had a massive campaign on their behalf by the press which treated them as fucking heroes, leading to them being released without even having their convictions overturned, readmitted to the army, and promoted.