Not guilty by reason of....
The jury has spoken. Former Fullerton police officers Manuel Ramos and Jay Cicinelli were acquitted of all charges in the beating death of Kelly Thomas. If you really want to know what happened to Kelly Thomas, this is the video you should watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6yaeD-E_MY. That's the unedited version of the surveillance camera video of the incident.
Given what's on that video, how in the world did that jury find those officers not guilty of even excessive use of force under color of authority? This is the recipe that led to that verdict:
1. A District Attorney trying a case himself.
2. The relationship that exists between police and prosecutors.
3. A population that is pro-police and anti-homeless.
4. Excellent defense attorneys.
5. A truism from Adolf Hitler.
Let's examine these in detail, beginning with Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas. He was a deputy district attorney for over 15 years, but left that job more than 25 years ago. He's been a judge. And since 1998, he's been the DA of Orange County, CA. So when was the last time he tried a criminal case? Probably back in 1988 when he was a prosecutor. One expert gave Rackauckas a grade of D minus for his performance in this trial.
Police officers work hand in hand with the District Attorney's office on all criminal cases they refer to that office. As a result they develop a close relationship. Add to that the fact that these prosecutors don't often find themselves trying police officers for this type of offense and you have a recipe for failure. Even if Mr. Rackauckas had been wise enough to put his bravery aside and let one of his more experienced prosecutors try this case, the outcome might well have been the same. I wonder if maybe a change of venue for the trial might have been in order, so that a jury that wasn't already inculcated in the facts of the case could have been empaneled.
Orange County is conservative, Republican, pro-cop and very much wanting to keep homeless people out of their cities. The prejudice against a homeless person was undoubtedly in the minds of this jury as they decided the fate of these officers.
The defense attorneys did an excellent job of raising doubts. Doubts about the cause of death, doubts about whether the amount of force used was or wasn't within departmental guidelines, and doubts about who Kelly Thomas really was.
They did that by lying. They lied over and over again, claiming he had a history of drug use. There's no evidence to support this assertion. No positive drug test results on file. But as Hitler said, if you repeat a lie often enough, people will start to believe it.
Then there's this thing here in California called the Policeman's Bill of Rights. That is what prevented the prosecution from introducing some information about the records of Officer Rojas and Corporal Cicinelli at trial. Why do police officers need more rights than the civilian population is granted under the federal and state constitutions? These special rights only exist because the unions that represent police officers "lobbied" (read spent money) state legislature members to enact them.
"Black glove cop." "Badge-heavy cop." "415 personality." Phrases used by police officers to label other officers who abuse their authority. This bill of rights for cops just gives them even more room at the edge of the envelope known as minimum force necessary.
So what can we do to prevent this from happening again? To ensure someone sitting on a curb, not presenting a threat doesn't die because he or she encountered a black glove cop.
First, the policeman's bill of rights needs to be modified. Police officers must be held to higher, not lower standards than the rest of the population.
Then we need to move the investigation and criminal prosecution of incidents involving sworn law enforcement officers out of the purview of the local authorities. This can be done by creating a bureau within the California Attorney General's office that exists solely for this purpose. Local law enforcement agencies would continue to investigate civilian complaints initially, but the moment it becomes clear that a crime may have been committed by a cop, the matter is referred to this bureau.
Finally, we all need to recognize that the biggest flaw of the jury system is that most of our population will jump through any hoop necessary to avoid serving on a jury. What did you do with the last jury duty summons you received? If you are typical, your first thought when you got it was "how can I avoid this?" If the best and brightest continue to shirk this responsibility, we can expect to have more bad verdicts like this one.
Given what's on that video, how in the world did that jury find those officers not guilty of even excessive use of force under color of authority? This is the recipe that led to that verdict:
1. A District Attorney trying a case himself.
2. The relationship that exists between police and prosecutors.
3. A population that is pro-police and anti-homeless.
4. Excellent defense attorneys.
5. A truism from Adolf Hitler.
Let's examine these in detail, beginning with Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas. He was a deputy district attorney for over 15 years, but left that job more than 25 years ago. He's been a judge. And since 1998, he's been the DA of Orange County, CA. So when was the last time he tried a criminal case? Probably back in 1988 when he was a prosecutor. One expert gave Rackauckas a grade of D minus for his performance in this trial.
Police officers work hand in hand with the District Attorney's office on all criminal cases they refer to that office. As a result they develop a close relationship. Add to that the fact that these prosecutors don't often find themselves trying police officers for this type of offense and you have a recipe for failure. Even if Mr. Rackauckas had been wise enough to put his bravery aside and let one of his more experienced prosecutors try this case, the outcome might well have been the same. I wonder if maybe a change of venue for the trial might have been in order, so that a jury that wasn't already inculcated in the facts of the case could have been empaneled.
Orange County is conservative, Republican, pro-cop and very much wanting to keep homeless people out of their cities. The prejudice against a homeless person was undoubtedly in the minds of this jury as they decided the fate of these officers.
The defense attorneys did an excellent job of raising doubts. Doubts about the cause of death, doubts about whether the amount of force used was or wasn't within departmental guidelines, and doubts about who Kelly Thomas really was.
They did that by lying. They lied over and over again, claiming he had a history of drug use. There's no evidence to support this assertion. No positive drug test results on file. But as Hitler said, if you repeat a lie often enough, people will start to believe it.
Then there's this thing here in California called the Policeman's Bill of Rights. That is what prevented the prosecution from introducing some information about the records of Officer Rojas and Corporal Cicinelli at trial. Why do police officers need more rights than the civilian population is granted under the federal and state constitutions? These special rights only exist because the unions that represent police officers "lobbied" (read spent money) state legislature members to enact them.
"Black glove cop." "Badge-heavy cop." "415 personality." Phrases used by police officers to label other officers who abuse their authority. This bill of rights for cops just gives them even more room at the edge of the envelope known as minimum force necessary.
So what can we do to prevent this from happening again? To ensure someone sitting on a curb, not presenting a threat doesn't die because he or she encountered a black glove cop.
First, the policeman's bill of rights needs to be modified. Police officers must be held to higher, not lower standards than the rest of the population.
Then we need to move the investigation and criminal prosecution of incidents involving sworn law enforcement officers out of the purview of the local authorities. This can be done by creating a bureau within the California Attorney General's office that exists solely for this purpose. Local law enforcement agencies would continue to investigate civilian complaints initially, but the moment it becomes clear that a crime may have been committed by a cop, the matter is referred to this bureau.
Finally, we all need to recognize that the biggest flaw of the jury system is that most of our population will jump through any hoop necessary to avoid serving on a jury. What did you do with the last jury duty summons you received? If you are typical, your first thought when you got it was "how can I avoid this?" If the best and brightest continue to shirk this responsibility, we can expect to have more bad verdicts like this one.
posted by me at 10:05 AM
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