Just announced on CNN HN, only a banner so far on CNN.

Stand by for the feds to step in and prosecute them for civil rights violations, even though they have just been tried and acquitted of all charges.

Matt

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De duobus malis, minus est semper eligendum

animal farm, here we go.

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No individual can plan his own existence in their view.

So the state planners must arrogate to themselves the right to manipulate any sector of the economic system if the good of “society” or the “general welfare” is paramount.

Ipso- if the rights of the individual get in the way, the rights of the individual must be sublimated.

The Road to Serfdom
FA Hayek (interpretation)


Mortgage Backed Security survivor

Story now up on CNN: Cops not guilty in groom shooting - CNN.com

As predicted, the federal prosecutors are examining whether to intervene:

Matt

__________________
De duobus malis, minus est semper eligendum

Wow. I guess we'll never know the specifics of what made the judge decide this way. He won't give interviews the way jury members sometimes do. But on its face it's a difficult thing to understand. Fifty shots - no weapons on the "perps" - no evidence they were committing any crimes - and not even a reckless endangerment conviction. The only thing more surprising than the verdict is that Al "maggot" Sharpton didn't throw a full fledged news conference on the courthouse steps.

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A nation of slaves is always prepared to applaud the clemency of their master who, in the abuse of absolute power, does not proceed to the utmost extremes of injustice and oppression.
Edward Gibbon

This comment by someone outside the courthouse had me shaking my head

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There can be no bystanders in the battle for survival. Anyone who will not fight by your side is an enemy you must crush.

We are at war with forces too terrible to comprehend. We cannot afford mercy for any of its victims too weak to take the correct course. Mercy destroys us; it weakens us and saps our resolve. Put aside all such thoughts. They are not worthy of those in the service of country.

Truly bizarre. I'm very curious as to why there were acquitted.

Andrew

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Ethanol is a fabulous solution to our energy dilemma because it will provide more fuel for us to drive around and look for food.

-- Unknown

From what I have read (mostly in the article linked) the evidence and testimony provided by the prosecution was pretty shaky.

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There can be no bystanders in the battle for survival. Anyone who will not fight by your side is an enemy you must crush.

We are at war with forces too terrible to comprehend. We cannot afford mercy for any of its victims too weak to take the correct course. Mercy destroys us; it weakens us and saps our resolve. Put aside all such thoughts. They are not worthy of those in the service of country.

IIRC, the guy actually hit one of the officers with his car. The court ruled that the officers fired in justified fear for their lives and / or the lives of the other officers.

Matt

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De duobus malis, minus est semper eligendum

I read that the officers only thought they may get hit by the car, not that any of them got hit. Edit: I also read the opposite.

Andrew

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Ethanol is a fabulous solution to our energy dilemma because it will provide more fuel for us to drive around and look for food.

-- Unknown

I was kind of wondering about the possiblity of mayhem.........shaky ground and all that, y'know.

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They got away with it over Rodney King. Why should NYC be any different?

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In case you were wondering, yes, there really ARE more idiots these days....technology has made natural selection obsolete.

Now, I suppose this is political because it involves a police shooting, but mostly because Al Sharpton has made it so:

I don't know what to think of this incident as I haven't had an opportunity to review the facts in depth (though it strikes me as odd that one of the officers would fire in excess of 30 rounds when no fire is being returned). But it's disappointing to see the almost inevitable use of it to inflame racial tension by the likes of Al Sharpton, particularly because two of the three accused officers are black.

In any event, I hardly think Rev. Sharpton is in any position to credibly tell us whether justice was "aborted" in this instance.

You are correct that 2 out of the 3 police detectives were black so I am interested in how Sharpton is going to turn this into a racial issue.

threads merged

__________________
No individual can plan his own existence in their view.

So the state planners must arrogate to themselves the right to manipulate any sector of the economic system if the good of “society” or the “general welfare” is paramount.

Ipso- if the rights of the individual get in the way, the rights of the individual must be sublimated.

The Road to Serfdom
FA Hayek (interpretation)


Mortgage Backed Security survivor

Interesting Q&A with a CNN legal analyst. Gives some additional background on some testimony and on the judge himself

Five questions for CNN's Sunny Hostin - CNN.com

(CNN) -- Q: Was it the best decision by the defense to waive a jury trial and have a judge decide this?

HOSTIN: No question. It is unusual for a case like this to go in front of a judge instead of a jury. But this was an emotional case, it received a lot of media coverage and the defense requested a bench trial. So the judge was acting not only as a judge but also as a juror in determining the facts of the case.

Q: In announcing the verdict, the judge said he didn't believe some of the witnesses. Was that the bottom line?

HOSTIN: When the judge said, in essence, "I was looking at the demeanor of a witness and I didn't believe it," that's a credibility determination a judge has to make. ... When I reviewed Joseph Guzman's testimony, he was combative. He said things to the questioning attorney like: "This should happen to your family." ... So a judge, acting as the trier of fact, is going to look at that sort of thing -- and also prior history, prior convictions -- and decide, "Do I believe him?" Watch Hostin discuss the verdict »

Q: Did the prosecution prepare the witnesses for what was a serious, somber proceeding?

HOSTIN: They absolutely prepared their witnesses. I'm sure that the prosecutors met with witnesses not once, not twice, but probably upwards of five to 10 times. But you never know how a witness is going to react on the witness stand. ... You don't know what the cross-examination is going to be like. And you don't know how a witness is going to react to that examination.

Q: What do we know about Judge Arthur Cooperman?

HOSTIN: He's an older judge, experienced. He's been around before, and this is not his first high-profile police brutality case. He held against the police in one case. So this is a judge who has a good reputation for being fair, right down the line.

Q: We know there's been a lot of community outrage at the verdict. What's been the reaction of those you've spoken to in the law enforcement community?

HOSTIN: Most in the law enforcement community believe that the officers were justified in firing. I've been told that everything that evolved here seemed to be within normal police procedure. But the consensus in the law enforcement community is that this is a terrible case for everyone. ...

I've been on [my] Blackberry with a former first-grade Queens detective, and he said, "This thing probably happened in less than two minutes. I could fire off my weapon in a case like this in 20 to 30 seconds."

These are judgments that are made for better or for worse, very quickly. This is not a good outcome for anybody. These officers' lives are changed forever. This is a terrible case for everyone

__________________
There can be no bystanders in the battle for survival. Anyone who will not fight by your side is an enemy you must crush.

We are at war with forces too terrible to comprehend. We cannot afford mercy for any of its victims too weak to take the correct course. Mercy destroys us; it weakens us and saps our resolve. Put aside all such thoughts. They are not worthy of those in the service of country.