quote:

Originally posted by flashguy:

quote:

Originally posted by MikeinNC:

quote:

Originally posted by YooperSigs:
So much for the belief that you receive "a jury of your peers".

Well that’s a given, because smart people know how to get out of jury duty

You are condemning all "smart people" as being derelict in their civic duty? I am generally considered to be "smart" (my IQ supports it) and I have responded to every call to jury duty I received. I was only actually selected for one jury, and I served as the Foreman on that one. I am now old enough that I don't get called any more. But if I were called, I would go. Every good citizen should do so, too. Employers are required to permit employees to serve, without docking their pay (if salaried). Persons with significant reasons to avoid jury duty do have ways to ask for deferment.

flashguy

I always go, of course. And before I started practicing law I served on a jury. Now, no one wants me on a jury because I litigate cases. My status as a middle class, middle aged white man doesn't endear me to too many criminal defense lawyers, either. But I always go and take part.

Lawyers (at least me, and the ones I know) don't mind smart or educated people. What we don't want is someone whose life experience puts our client at a disadvantage. Who that is varies case by case.

Lawyers are generally not unprincipled, Flashguy. At least no more than the general population. In making arguments to people, year in and year out, one thing we learn is that people are governed more by preconceptions and barely recognized biases than most of us realize. We all like to think we are perfectly open-minded and rational, but most of us are not.

I always take a note pad for taking notes and never was selected. I wasn't working at the time and looked forward to serving.

quote:

Originally posted by flashguy:

quote:

Originally posted by MikeinNC:

quote:

Originally posted by YooperSigs:
So much for the belief that you receive "a jury of your peers".

Well that’s a given, because smart people know how to get out of jury duty

You are condemning all "smart people" as being derelict in their civic duty? I am generally considered to be "smart" (my IQ supports it) and I have responded to every call to jury duty I received. I was only actually selected for one jury, and I served as the Foreman on that one. I am now old enough that I don't get called any more. But if I were called, I would go. Every good citizen should do so, too. Employers are required to permit employees to serve, without docking their pay (if salaried). Persons with significant reasons to avoid jury duty do have ways to ask for deferment.

flashguy

Flash, I don't know how many times I've sat in front of a Jury, 50-60 times at least.
There's a saying behind the scenes at 26th and Cal, the Cook County Criminal Court-
"A Jury is 12 people not smart enough to get out of Jury duty"

That being said, some of that is true, some isn't. I've testified in front of both.

I know lawyers and states attorneys that say there's kind of a science behind jury selection and who they want on a jury. I'd say they're pretty much correct.


YES, EVERYONE should exercise their civic duty and sit on a jury, just as everyone should vote, pay taxes, not scam the system, not speed, not steal, not do illegal things....
But there's a big difference between "should" and "is".

quote:

Originally posted by flashguy:
AKSD and Mike, we're good. I only was enrolled in one jury because the Drfense lawyer generally yanked me because I had friends in LE. I suppose they thought I'd always side with the LEO in every case. It wasn't true--I am fully capable of making my own decisions about what is true and what is not--if the cop were wrong, I'd be against it. Lawyers tend to expect that everyone is just as unprincipled as they are. (Unfortunately, today that is often the case.)

flashguy

It's kind of been a sore point for me. I'm in an area where the court serves an area the size of New Jersey...yet only residents within a 30 minute drive get called for jury duty. SO...a small bunch of us get called. I get a jury summons nearly every year. Much of the time my number is so high I never have to go in...which is a real PITA. It means I'll get called again potentially within 6 months. The whole month I'm on the hook, I have to be able to be in town the next day with an 8 hour notice. Which means I can't accept work out of the area. Our judges do not release for work reasons, even if self employed and a single parent. I watched a young single mom who survives with her own cleaning company plead her case, and then get fined for not showing up when the judge ignored her very real reasons for getting out of jury duty. Our system in Alaska is VERY broken.

All that sacrifice and frustration....only to get eliminated from every jury selection because no lawyer wants anyone with half a brain. As a Chaplain, they really don't want me. I'm planning a move in part, to ensure I'm more than a 30 minute drive away from our sham of a court. The biggest lesson I've learned...is to make damned sure you never have to face a judge or jury in Alaska. The odds are against people, and you're better off shooting it out and making sure your story is the only one told, with no evidence to find. People practice the SSS here for very good reasons I've found out.

And now we have Federal indictments for civil rights violations. The guy just got convicted for murder. You think that would be enough "justice".

The feds know that the murder conviction will likely be overturned. Or at least should be.

quote:

Originally posted by Lefty Sig:
And now we have Federal indictments for civil rights violations. The guy just got convicted for murder. You think that would be enough "justice".

This is how they fuck you.
He's charged at the state level for murder. Now that there's grounds for a re-trial or his conviction being overturned, the Feds get to fuck you on the Federal level so now you have to fight again to get out of the Civil Rights Violations.

Someone wants to make DAMN SURE he's in some sort of prison.

Where would the Federal trial be held?

As more comes out about Chauvin, I’m okay sleeping at night thinking he’s guilty of something; just not anything with the word “murder” in it.

That said, what keeps me awake at night are the other 3 cops being charged. Especially the 2 rookies who were as I recall, in their first week (day?) in the field. There is no ‘reasonable’ person who could expect them to jump in and interrupt their training officer during a situation like that.

Stuff like this is where ‘pitchfork nation’ always seems to win. They complain loud enough, and those seeking their votes will look away from any moral thoughts they ever might have had.

quote:

Originally posted by 41:
I always take a note pad for taking notes and never was selected. I wasn't working at the time and looked forward to serving.

The one time I served I took a note pad, but we were told we couldn't take notes. From what I understand there are three appellate issues. 1. This trial should have been moved. 2. Defense studied whether or not carbon monoxide from a nearby running patrol car could have contributed. Come to find out prosecution did that study and did not share it during discovery. Violation of discovery rules. 3. If true it appears a juror lied to the judge about his knowledge of this case. Turns out he may be a BLM activist.

Above all we must keep in mind we were not in that court room so we can't know all that happened. My crystal ball tells me the murder charges will be overturned, but the manslaughter charge will stand.

quote:

Originally posted by goose5:
My crystal ball tells me the murder charges will be overturned, but the manslaughter charge will stand.

They can do that? If a mistrial is declared or the verdict is thrown out, I would've thought it'd be an all or nothing situation and then possibly a retrial.

quote:

Originally posted by wcb6092:
Where would the Federal trial be held?

At the federal courthouse in Minneapolis, unless moved.

quote:

Originally posted by Balzé Halzé:

quote:

Originally posted by goose5:
My crystal ball tells me the murder charges will be overturned, but the manslaughter charge will stand.

They can do that? If a mistrial is declared or the verdict is thrown out, I would've thought it'd be an all or nothing situation and then possibly a retrial.

I honestly don't know for sure. The jury ruled on three separate charges. I don't see why they couldn't take them one at a time on appeal. From what I understand defense motioned for a mistrial when they learned prosecution played fast and loose with discovery and was denied. The most disturbing aspect of this situation, and this could be appellate issue number 4 is it certainly seems this ruling was arrived at with a mob's thumb on the scales.

Well...you knew the mob just couldn't sit still, now they're going after the witness' in the trail that supported Chauvin's case. The mob wants their justice, never mind the guy got convicted on all counts.

In this case, they vandalized the home of a witness who hasn't lived there for nearly 20-years, and in fact lives out of the state where this occurred.




Three women arrested in vandalism of ex-Santa Rosa officer’s former home

quote:

Three women involved in local Black Lives Matter protests were arrested this week in connection with the vandalism of a home tied to an ex-Santa Rosa police officer who served as an expert in the trial of the former Minneapolis police officer convicted of killing George Floyd, police said.

Amber Lucas, 35, Rowan Dalbey, 20, and Kristen Aumoithe, 34, all of Santa Rosa, were booked into the Sonoma County Jail on Tuesday on suspicion of felony conspiracy to commit a crime and two felony vandalism charges, the Santa Rosa Police Department said in a news release Wednesday.

Lucas, a social media wine and lifestyle influencer who sits on the Sonoma County Commission on the Status of Women, has organized and attended several peaceful local demonstrations in the wake of Floyd’s murder and has been a vocal critic of local law enforcement on social media and during public meetings.

She helped coordinate an April 20 candlelight vigil at the Santa Rosa Junior College the night Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer, was convicted of murder and manslaughter in Floyd’s death.

Both Dalbey and Aumoithe have also participated in Sonoma County protests seeking police reform.

The Sonoma County Superior Court website showed no criminal cases for any of the women.

....

Appellate issue number 5 Maxine Waters going to Minneapolis and shooting off her mouth before the jury was sequestered.

Meanwhile at the George Floyd peace protest in Minneapolis today....

Talk about SLOW reaction time!!!

Fentanyl George being honored on his 1yr. I would expect no less.

Will May 25th become a National Holiday?

A Year After George Floyd’s Murder, It’s ‘Open Season’ in Minneapolis
Homicides have more than doubled in a year. Three children have been shot in the past month.

Al Sharpton and civil-rights attorney Benjamin Crump led a march in downtown Minneapolis Sunday in advance of the first anniversary of George Floyd’s death on May 25. Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was convicted of Floyd’s murder last month.

Messrs. Sharpton and Crump didn’t visit North Memorial Health Hospital, where two recent victims of a yearlong explosion of violence in Minneapolis are on life support. On April 30 Ladavionne Garrett Jr. , 10, was riding in a car with his parents when a gunman opened fire. A bullet pierced Ladavionne’s head; doctors put him in a medically induced coma and removed part of his skull to relieve swelling on the brain. On May 15, 9-year-old Trinity Ottoson-Smith was jumping on a trampoline at a friend’s house when bullets fired from a passing car struck her in the head. She is also in critical condition at North Memorial, in the room next to Ladavionne’s.

Nineteen children in Minneapolis have been shot this year, an increase of 171% over the same period in 2020. Their relatives wonder where the protesters are. “Why ain’t nobody mad about a 10-year-old, my grandson, fighting for his life?” asked Sharrie Jennings, Ladavionne’s grandmother, at a May 17 mayoral event. “Because a cop didn’t shoot him, is that why?” Ms. Jennings warned of “a deadly summer” for kids if the mayor and police chief don’t “step up.” Later that day, Aniya Allen, 6, was caught in a shootout between rival gangs while in her mother’s car. Aniya died on May 19.

Minneapolis homicides between Jan. 1 and last week were up 108% compared with the same period in 2020; shootings were up 153%, and carjackings 222%. The crime increase began after Floyd’s death and has never let up. Nor has the assault on law enforcement that began with the arson destruction of the Third Precinct building on May 28, 2020. Officers are routinely punched, kicked and hit with projectiles. There was a near-riot in downtown Minneapolis in the early hours of May 22 following a shootout among club patrons. Two people were killed in that shootout and eight wounded. Responding officers called for backup across the Twin Cities at what the department called an “exceptionally chaotic scene.” The previous weekend, officers were maced, and pelted with rocks and debris while trying to disperse disorderly crowds.

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After Floyd’s death, the Minneapolis City Council called for abolishing the police department and replacing it with a “new transformative model for cultivating safety.” Abolition didn’t happen, but “some folks” in the community got the message anyway that “they have a sort of open season on their enemies,” said Alicia Smith, the executive director of the Corcoran Neighborhood Organization.

Attrition is accomplishing the same goal as defunding. At least 200 officers have resigned or gone on leave since May 2020, leaving the Minneapolis Police Department understaffed by nearly a third. Officers’ “morale and mission” were destroyed by the failure to defend the Third Precinct and to prevent the torching and looting of businesses during the May 2020 riots, newly retired lieutenant Kim Voss wrote in a February 2021 op-ed.

The area around what is now called George Floyd Square is still burned-out and desolate, isolated within a civilian-enforced police-free zone. “I am afraid. I am frustrated. I am mentally ill right now,” a local barbecue shop owner told the Star Tribune in March. City Council member Alondra Cano told the paper she hears from senior citizens who sleep in the bathtub to avoid being shot at night and whose bus routes for picking up medications and groceries have been disrupted by the autonomous zone. The Floyd family has pledged $500,000 of its $27 million wrongful-death settlement from the city to black business owners at George Floyd Square. That won’t compensate the barbecue-shop owner and his neighbors if diners and shoppers still have to dodge bullets and employees are still getting carjacked.

As lawless as Minneapolis has become, it is hardly atypical. Drive-by shootings and homicides jumped nationwide during and after the Floyd riots. Homicides rose 50% in Chicago in 2020, 46% in New York City, and 38% in Los Angeles. The U.S. saw the largest annual percentage increase in homicides in recorded history in 2020. That increase has continued in 2021. The number of shooting victims in Chicago was up 43% in the first three months of 2021 compared with the same period in 2020. Through May 16, the number of shooting victims in New York City is up 78.6% over a year ago. In the Bronx, the number is up 165.7%.

The media and Democratic politicians attribute the crime increase to the pandemic and attendant shutdowns. But the violence surge of 2020 began only after the George Floyd riots, more than two months after Covid-19 devastated the economy. No industrialized country saw anything comparable; crime dropped in the U.K. and Canada, where lockdowns were more severe than in the U.S.

Of the at least 100 homicide victims in Minneapolis since May 25, 2020, only one was killed by a cop. The victim was a suspected gunrunner who had tried to run over officers before shooting at them through his car window, causing them to return fire. There is little evidence that the Minneapolis Police Department systemically violates blacks’ civil rights, but Attorney General Merrick Garland has opened a civil-rights investigation into the Minneapolis Police Department anyway. If history is any guide, the resulting consent decree will cause crime to increase in the city as officers back off further from proactive policing.

The victims of that additional crime increase will, as always, be disproportionately black. At least three-quarters of Minneapolis’s homicide and shooting victims are black, though the city is less than a fifth black. Messrs. Sharpton and Crump have no answers to that dilemma, so they ignore it.

While police need to train relentlessly in de-escalation and sound tactics, they are not the problem in minority communities; criminals are. As long as the police are demonized and scapegoated, law-abiding residents of high-crime neighborhoods will continue to live in fear and wonder why no one protests when their loved ones are murdered by gangs with guns.

Ms. Mac Donald is a fellow at the Manhattan Institute and author of “The War on Cops.”

link:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/a...83?mod=trending_now_

quote:

Originally posted by Ronin1069:Meanwhile at the George Floyd peace protest in Minneapolis today....

Happy George Floyd Day, shots fired, shots fired.

Send in the Social Workers, we may have an issue with mental illness, anger, or just celebrating the day.

Need unarmed social workers to sort this out.
Send’em in boys.