This article is part of TPM Cafe, TPM’s home for opinion and news analysis. It first appeared at The Conversation.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=1391055
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=1391055
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I do not like to comment on an ongoing criminal trial, as I believe we should follow the British system, and only report on these matters after their conclusion. Having said that, I hope these bastards are convicted and spend the rest of their sorry lives in prison.
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Not to condemn them for their appearance but if I saw any one of these goobers walking towards me I’d cross the street, and I’m white.
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The “crime” they witnessed was jogging while Black. Hey, that defense worked for Zimmerman in Florida.
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It would have worked in GA as well had not been for the video.
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If I live to be 100, I will still not understand what they were thinking when they decided recording the whole incident was a good idea.
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And not only that, but releasing it voluntarily .
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Prior to the development of professionalized police agencies…
Europe has many of these; they are few and far between here.
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The controversy surrounding Arbery’s killing led to the repeal of Georgia’s almost-150-year-old citizen’s arrest law.
I am pleasantly surprised that Georgia repealed the law. I figured they would double down and expand the law. “You can make a citizen’s arrest without outward probable cause if inwardly you feel this person likely committed a crime”.
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When George Floyd was murdered by the police, those with eyes to see knew broadly at the time what the outcome of a criminal trial should be. Ditto with Ahmaud Arbery.
So isn’t high-minded jury selection – seeking jurors who have no opinion on the matter – inherently problematic? You are looking for people who are clueless, disinterested, or dishonest. Things worked out in the Floyd trial of course.
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Just look at them. If you took their brains and rolled them down a razor’s edge they’d look like BB’s bouncing down a 4 lane highway.
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The theory, of course, is that you want the jury to be swayed entirely by the facts presented in the case. No matter who the defendant is or what they’ve been accused of doing, the jury are supposed to be relied upon to make the determination of their guilt based upon the case as presented by the prosecution alone. Our system is supposed to work on the assumption of innocence (until proven guilty). And guilt is only decided based on what the prosecution presents (which is why they are also supposed to present all exculpatory evidence to the defense, so the defense can expose any holes in the prosecution’s narrative).
Of course, that’s much harder to follow when you have media circuses surrounding high profile cases (probably yet another victim of 24-hour news, though I’m sure broadsheets were always happy to spin all sorts of things back in the day if they had a juicy tidbit). Like @epicurus said, it would be better most of the time if these things didn’t blow up in the media (social or professional) before the trial and then it would relatively straightforward to find a (closer to) impartial jury since no one would have been in a position to be swayed before the trial starts.
Considering neither Ahmaud Arbery’s case nor George Floyd’s would likely have even gone to trial if not for the media-induced outcry, we are clearly not living in that ideal world depicted in my first paragraph. But I think it would be something worth working toward.
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ithink maybe the plan was to either make copies and sell them or just get the video on tv…and maybe get paid for it…
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That’s not the standard for being able to serve on a jury. The issue is whether the prospective juror will be able to set aside any pre-existing opinions they may have about the case so they can judge it based solely on the evidence presented at trial. Which is inevitably what the judge will straight-up ask them if anyone challenges a juror for bias. It’s very rare for a juror to say they can’t be fair, even when we know intuitively that they’re lying about it.
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They thought they were the heroes. Just like the J6 insurrectionists.
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And that’s what peremptory challenges are there for, right? (Well … that’s one thing that they’re used for.)
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Zimmerman lucked into a very racist judge, who got thrown out on her ear the next time she was up for re-election.
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Rules of successful crimin:
- Don’t talk to the popo
- Don’t take notes on a criminal fucking conspiracy
- Don’t instagram yer felonifyin
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Probably would have if not for florida’s example.
My dad worked for the California Department of Corrections in various educational capacity (mostly vocational teacher). When I was a teenager, he consistently said, “We only catch the stupid ones.”
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