A look at what’s ahead in the Ferguson case
hmmmm.
Police misconduct
Police are rarely indicted for misconduct, Wilson decision illustrates
sigh….
Criminal prosecution of a police officer for killing someone in the line of duty, if no corruption is alleged, is extremely rare. Even when officers are convicted, the charges are often minimal.
True story.
Typically, prosecutors make a short presentation to the grand jury in which they call for specific charges to be considered and then put on their best show of the evidence to see if it passes muster. Indictments occur in more than 90 percent of cases, owing to the low threshold of probable cause and the one-sided nature of the proceedings. In Wilson’s case, however, the DA said he planned to provide the grand jury with all the evidence and allow them to decide, without any prompting, whether an indictment was justified and for what offense.
…First, this approach allowed him to absolve himself of any responsibility for the outcome. Second, it served to confuse and undermine the confidence of the grand jury. …By giving the jurors a wide variety of conflicting evidence and little framework in which to evaluate it, the DA is opening the door to a he said/he said dynamic in which they may err on the side of caution and avoid an indictment.
Nice to hear I’m not the only one this occurred to.
Obama’s statement on Ferguson
Watch President Obama’s full statement on Ferguson grand jury decision
I like the bit between minutes two and three.
At around the 4:00 minute mark, did he just say, “much needed criminal justice reform?” From his lips to action I hope.
At about the 4:50 mark, “there are still problems and communities of color aren’t just making these problems up.” Good on ya Barack!
At about the 5:25 mark, “what we need to do is to understand them and figure out how do we make more progress.” Again with the ‘these are all important issues and we need to discuss them more and work on them together but not really actually do anything about it’ phrasing that turned me off to BHO the first time I heard him. (This is not a cocktail party. The theory and the discussion is not the point, the result are, man! Jeesh.)
That said, I prefer the sound of making progress to the sound of completely fixing thing or -even worse- tearing everything down and starting over. (Sue me, I prefer to aim for the possible.) Are we hearing a more mature BHO here, one who is ready to publicly acknowledge that the goal is to make progress and not to hold out for total wins? Just in time for justice system reform? Be still, my pragmatic heart.
No seriously, what specifically are your plans? What exactly is being proposed and implement by the Justice Department? You’re not running anymore, now is the time. Oh, and, you mind answering the federal charges question?
Tear gas fired at Ferguson protesters; police cars set afire
Tear gas fired at Ferguson protesters; police cars set afire
What kills me about this (and this and this) is that officials have been planning their crowd control for a while. A State of Emergency was declared days ahead of time. They have had days, weeks, months to position their forces and craft a crowd control strategy. Why. The. Hell. …Did they position all of those empty police cars in the area, with no show of force near-by?
No, wait. Maybe it’s best not to answer that.
No Indictment of Officer in Missouri Death
No Indictment of Officer in Missouri Death
Grand Jury Does Not Charge Darren Wilson in Ferguson Case
Legal experts say police officers typically have wide latitude to use deadly force when they feel their safety is threatened.
Or to put it another way, they have wide latitude to define when deadly force is necessary. Think South Park.
Mr. McCulloch, the St. Louis County prosecutor, directed his staff to present “absolutely everything” to the grand jury, meaning that the jurors would see and hear more evidence than they would have normally.
OK, my immediate thought is that it sounds like the grand jury would be hearing testimony that they usually wouldn’t have heard because of its relevance or credibility. Not to say this happened but if someone did want to direct information away from something, I imagine burying it in an avalanche of other information might not be such a bad tactic.
In the event the jury does not indict Officer Wilson, Mr. McCulloch has said he plans to release audio recordings and transcripts of the grand jury proceedings.
(Dear New York Times, Please hire some copy editors and make sure you update/correct articles before you publish them, even online. Thank you, -The Public)
Absolutely only the play the prosecutor could make to ensure his conduct in this affair was protected from much critique was to release every little thing, before anyone asks.
A few ends will be served beyond the public’s thirst for information.
On the chance that some information contained somewhere in the grand jury proceedings leads to light being shone any malfeasance, on the part of any level of law enforcement, the prosecutor has separated himself from it by releasing the information so promptly. If there is anything, even remotely resembling say stereotypical thin blue line cover-ups to be found, his hands are clean. Nice butt-covering.
Less cynically, McCulloch repeatedly expressed his desire that people keep working on and discussing the issues involved in this tragedy and even made non-specific statements about laws being changed so things work better. That bit was nice but I wonder if he will be speaking about this a month from now.
Captain of San Diego-based warship relieved of duty
Captain of San Diego-based warship relieved of duty
Capt. Wayne Brown was relieved as commander of the San Diego-based amphibious assault ship Boxer after an investigation concluded that he had “lost the respect, trust and confidence of his subordinates” because of his temper and his behavior toward female crew members, according to the investigative report.
hmmmm.
Woman Takes Short Half-Hour Break From Being Feminist To Enjoy TV Show
Woman Takes Short Half-Hour Break From Being Feminist To Enjoy TV Show
Ewww, Onion. The bridezilla show, really?
Bureaucratic nightmare on immigration?
Bureaucratic nightmare on immigration?
The troubled immigration system braces for the onslaught of 5 million applications.
Oh the horrors, they may be forced to clear the backlog enabling them to do their job better in the future.
Giuliani is a racist simpleton.
Giuliani: 93 Percent of Blacks Are Killed by Blacks
Giuliani said 70 percent to 75 percent of crime in New York City takes place in predominantly black areas, and that’s why there is a large police presence in those places.
“The white police officers wouldn’t be there if you weren’t killing each other,” Giuliani said.
What a clueless fucking asshole.He needs to sit down, shut the fuck up, and stop embarrassing white people.
Texas Approves History Books Which Contain Ouright Lies for Use In Schools
Texas Approves Incorrect History Texts for Schools
Of course they did. Backwards, inbred fucking idiots.
Police Kill 12-Year-Old Child For Carrying BB Gun
Cleveland police officer shoots 12-year-old boy carrying BB gun
So a child reaches to give the police his BB gun and the uniformed psychos shoot to kill.
Murdered for trying to cooperate.
The cops deserve to face the same fate they feel justified in handing out, or at the very least charged, convicted and imprisoned for the murder they committed in cold blood.
NYPD Shoots and Kills ‘Totally Innocent’ Unarmed Man
‘Totally innocent’ unarmed man shot dead by New York police
“What happened last night was a very unfortunate tragedy. The deceased is totally innocent. He just happened to be in the hallway. He was not engaged in any criminal activity,” [City Police Commissioner Bill] Bratton said.
sigh.
Gate A-4
I heard an announcement: “If anyone in the vicinity of Gate A-4 understands any Arabic, please come to the gate immediately.” Well— one pauses these days. Gate A-4 was my own gate. I went there.
An older woman in full traditional Palestinian embroidered dress, just like my grandma wore, was crumpled to the floor, wailing. “Help,” said the flight agent. “Talk to her . What is her problem? We told her the flight was going to be late and she did this.”
This. Is. Awesome.
Asperger’s Syndrome
Theory finds that individuals with Asperger’s Syndrome don’t lack empathy – in fact if anything they empathize too much
Makes intuitive sense that emoting would be very intense for people with Aspegers.
