The Derek Chauvin Trial

Slightly off topic, but not really.

I need to drive my two-year-old to daycare tomorrow morning. To ensure we arrive alive, we won't take public transit (Oscar Grant). I removed all air fresheners from the vehicle and double-checked my registration status (Daunte Wright), and ensured my license plates were visible (Lt. Caron Nazario). I will be careful to follow all traffic rules (Philando Castille), signal every turn (Sandra Bland), keep the radio volume low (Jordan Davis), and won't stop at a fast food chain for a meal (Rayshard Brooks). I'm too afraid to pray (Rev. Clementa C. Pickney) so I just hope the car won't break down (Corey Jones).
When my wife picks him up at the end of the day, I'll remind her not to dance (Elijah McClain), stop to play in a park (Tamir Rice), patronize the local convenience store for snacks (Trayvon Martin), or walk around the neighborhood (Mike Brown). Once they are home, we won't stand in our backyard (Stephon Clark), eat ice cream on the couch (Botham Jean), or play any video games (Atatiana Jefferson).
After my wife and I tuck him into bed around 7:30pm, neither of us will leave the house to go to Walmart (John Crawford) or to the gym (Tshyrand Oates) or on a jog (Ahmaud Arbery). We won't even walk to see the birds (Christian Cooper). We'll just sit and try not to breathe (George Floyd) and not to sleep (Breonna Taylor)." Author unknown

I am not really listening to the defense.

longjon wrote:

Judge says that Rep. Waters may cause entire Chauvin case being overturned

Well, that's not true.

The judge said it might be used for an appeal.....but just because you file for appeal, there is no guarantee you will be granted a new trial or anything of value.

Thanks, GB. I saw that lie and started to correct him on it, but just didn’t have the energy.

Facts are wasted on some folk.

I hope they put him in the hardest wing of the hardest prison that houses nothing but black men who have been beaten by cops.

You're on the wrong forum, buddy... You should be on a proud boys site or something... you are at 1000:1 odds here. Go be with your buds and move on.

Yeah, but those "split second decisions" all need to be looked at individually. I think a lot of folks have died needlessly because police have been able to hide too easily behind "fearing for their lives".
Philando Castille comes immediately to mind.

If closer examination of each fatal police shooting is one reform result of this latest business, that's a good thing.

I have not read through all the responses so please forgive me for repeating anything. I did not because I am avoiding the political rants and racist rants -- like how the h*ll does it make sense first off to say conservatives look at mass murder of school children as freedom? Be honest with yourself -- do you think anyone thinks this way? And what does that have to do with this case?

So my personal thoughts -- I do support the police -- however, I support the honest good police that are risking their lives (although we do know they sign up for this they do deserve some level of respect) to help protect others. At first glance I am feeling wow this is tough this guy was just doing his police work and is now going to jail probably for life -- his whole life is ruined because of a bad mistake. Then I start looking deeper -- no he knew better, there is little doubt there was hate behind his actions. It was not a quick reflex to try to protect himself or others. He had time to pull back. He was wrong and he knew better -- that is murder. So I no longer feel "bad" for him. I feel he is a murder no less than if some random guy on the street hated someone else for no reason than what he looked at and did the same thing.

I don't care what Floyd did -- at the time he was stopped and no threat. Why the h*ll would you continue to harm the man? Makes no logical sense.

We all need to take a look at ourselves and be kinder to others. Stop blaming others - right here on this thread we are the problem. Stop saying dumb crap like conservatives or liberals or black or white stuff like that is causing division. Yes, we will have differences of opinion, but that is ok -- what is not ok is the cruelness and disrespect shown throughout. I, personally am sick of it and will try to ignore and not feed these individuals.

that's not what the trial was about. The police still have the job of preventing crimes and apprehending people who are committing crimes. The trial only established that the police are not within the law when they brutalize suspects who are in custody -- handcuffed and prone, at that -- and kill them. Is that too difficult to understand?

You are thinking something fanatical from the Turner Diaries.

What I really wonder, though, is why they have to shoot to kill. Just shoot his leg or arm out - debilitate the person, but no one dies. It makes so much sense to just neutralize.

Well, he certainly deserves to be suspended. Who in the hell grows these people?

I think we will see more than the minimum. Perhaps significantly more. Or, failing that, if it is the minimum for each offence, that the court will order each sentence be served consecutively, rather than congruently. It might be wishful thinking, and we'll know soon enough, but there are aggravating factors, and I think the prosecution quite rightly asked that they be reflected in the sentencing.

I think one step towards police reform would be to require an investigation every time an officer pulls a gun from the holster. Take the officers who pulled guns on an Army medic during a traffic stop in Virginia (then pepper sprayed him at gunpoint then let him go telling him if he said anything they would report him to his superiors.) If they knew that pulling the guns would result in an automatic investigation, they might have thought twice.

A law that makes it legal to mow down protesters with a motor vehicle if they are blocking a street (this would excuse things like the murder of Heather Heyer who was run over by James Fields during a BLM protest 4 years ago)

What do you think about making it legal to run over political protestors?

that one is so absurd that it might as well have come from The Onion...