I’ve been trying to figure out what to say about this all night, but I think my feelings all boil down to this:
Prosecutors in Los Angeles have not won a murder conviction in a police shooting case since 1983. Via Problem Chylde at Feministe.
Argue all you want about whether Mehserle’s crime was murder or manslaughter. But please do not try to argue that this system is free of racism and brutality. Please do not try to argue that you can take an oppressed minority and a group of people with guns and the latter won’t ever abuse the former. Please do not try to argue that, at least in cases tried in L.A., no cop within this system has committed murder in 27 years.
Any comments arguing that Grant “deserved it” because he was or wasn’t doing X,Y, or Z will be deleted.
All I kept hearing last night was, “I’m disappointed but I expected this.” What kind of legal system allows citizens to feel this way and expect an outcome like this/ What kind of country would allow its justice system to fail? Apparently the U.S.
I am disappointed in our country, law enforcement, and the justice system. More than 50% of the jurrors had family members or friends in law enforcement and yet there wasn’t a single African American in the jury. Seriously? The Mayor of Oakland described this case perfectly, saying that this particular case is such a big deal because of the technology we have these days – cell phones with cameras and video cameras. Mehserle was caught by multiple video cameras killing an innocent man lying face down on the ground with a knee in his back. Where is the justice? Obama needs to step forward and say something and tell America this is not ok. We need a Martin Luther King Jr. ASAP! A black man’s life is worth so much more than a wanna be cop who got away with cold blooded murder.
I haven’t followed this case at all but the above seems quite odd to me. President Obama can give all the speeches he wants, but it would be much more useful if the DOJ had a look into this.
My best friend used to work in law enforcement (a long time ago, in a country far, far away) Would that would mean that everyone in my social circle is disqualified from serving on the jury in a similar case? What about people who have criminals as friends and relatives? Should they be excluded from criminal cases?
As far as I know, both the defense and the prosecution can throw prospective jury members out… someone may not have done his job.
By the way, while I think that racism is certainly responsible for the shooting, I am not sure that racism played that great a role in finding the police officer not guilty. Many people are willing to let the police get away with a lot. I’ve heard the argument ‘Yes, they’re nothing but another gang, but one that has no reason to bother me’. You do not have to be white to make that argument – actually, I have mostly heard it from Hispanics.
And chalk one for me in the “disappointed but not surprised” column.
Sebastian – potential African-American jurors were tossed out of the jury pool if they had ever “had contact” with a police offer. Which, given the frequency of racial profiling and police actions in poor neighborhoods, eliminated basically everyone. Yet white jurors with police relatives. were not dismissed.
When you never examine your racial privilege, racism can be quite a surprise, yes.
—Myca
There’s no way in downtown L.A. that there could be no Black jurors unless they were excluded as presumptary challenges or for cause. Usually the excuse is contact with police though I’ve heard everything from “he’s a postal worker and they’re highly stressed and could go postal” (while allowing a white postal worker on the jury) and “oh she’s a social worker and they’re all bleeding hearts” and in these cases, the court of appeals kicked it back for a hearing on Wheeler issues. These were statements in the court record. But then sometimes it swings the other way like “let’s put Black jurors on cases involving Hispanic gang members because Black gang members feud with Hispanic gang members” which is a way of labeling all Black men and women as gang members. So even though they’re sought in these scenarios of jury selection, that’s still seems as racist as when they are excluded.
Most of the time when Wheelers are called involving juror racial bias, it’s the defense but in this case, no doubt they didn’t want Black jurors period. So whether it was “police contact” (because not every African-American fits in this category and a large percentage have family in police work, often after military service) or not, there will be “other” reasons to exclude them. Jurors overall tend to be trending more questioning of police these days. It’s interesting watching them interviewed. My favorite was this older white man whose name sounded familiar to me. He trashed the justice system b/c his son, a local cop, was prosecuted and convicted on a use of excessive force under the color of authority and battery case and he ranted about his son being made an example (hardly as two other officers in another case were prosecuted that same summer)and he still got on the jury for a DUI crash case. I got tossed but I usually do. Prosecutors don’t like people who’ve worked for Black-owned publications very much.
Ironic with juror selection, because the main difference (if you’re going to make generalizations) between them racially compared to Whites is that they tend to scrutinize police evidence and testimony more closely and not just buy into it b/c it’s police. They’re not any “softer” on crime at all, but many are the opposite b/c they’re a disparate proportion of its victims.
It’s racist on more than one level I think. Both the system itself but also this perception about Black jurors as automatically acquitting members of their own race or hanging jurors. I’ve known Black jurors to hang juries that want to convict but having talked with them, they had very good reasons for doing that from an evidence perspective. You could easily argue that White jurors are quick to convict but that’s not quite true either.
And incidentally, the verdict surprised me. I was expecting an acquittal but then I usually do and most often, still that’s what happens. Does that mean I like the verdict? No, but my first reaction was WTF, meaning that they actually convicted on something.
It remains to be seen and is debatable how the Feds will read it. They easily get involved in cases like these but keeping them involved takes public pressure over time often several years and they’re actually less likely to file on civil rights violations against cops than the state is on murder charges.
By the way, while I think that racism is certainly responsible for the shooting, I am not sure that racism played that great a role in finding the police officer not guilty. Many people are willing to let the police get away with a lot