I was very surprised at the OJ Simpson verdict. Although I believed that the Defense succeded in rasing reasonable doubt (in my mind) nevertheless I concluded that the jury would find OJ guilty. In OJ's case, the cop was prejuduce, he lied, the evidence was sloppy. That convinced me among other things not that OJ didn't kill his wife but that the Defense won.
In the MB case, cops are trained to follow steps. THey do not think each case individually in my opinion. THey follow protocol. There is a video of the young man that purports to show him comitting a violent crime prior to his murder. The young man was black, he allegedly used drugs and the officer acted in the line of duty. The DA believes the police, case closed. If not for the news and political pressure, case closed. But the news. if you have been reading it daily, exposes the Police, the DA,.., and challenges their credibility and integrity of office holders.
If not for the publicy and pressure, the cop would never in a trillion years be indicted for killing someone "in the line of duty". IT would be landmark if the cop is indicted and it will impact police protocol nationwide.
I believe that the jury will see it this way. THe cop had reason to fear, the young man at the very least resisted if not assailed, by staute because of the size of the young man and the alleged struggle gave the cop the right to use deadly force. When the cop decides to use deadly force, he is not required to stop using it. Once he decides to use it, all of the events derrived or resulting from the proximate cause(reason why cop decided to use deadly force to begin with) do not void the justification of using deadly force. THe key in the jury decision (in my opinion) is whether the cop at the very begining had reason to kill him.
ON the other hand, the jury can believe that the cop acted out of anger and hate and not fear and duty.
I do not know all of the facts and it is not just for me to form an opinion, however, I feel outraged. I think that the situation could have been handled differently and the boy did not have to be killed. But the way it was handled results from police trainning (assuming the cop did no act act out of anger).
THere is a theory that fear of punishment deters crimninal conduct. What is good for the goose is good for those holding office. " People in office should not be allowed to get away with murder, or to put innocnet people in jail or have people die or tortured in custody. Once, prosecuters, judges, cops, and high rollers are held accountable for their actions facing long jail terms or death penalties for abuse of power, there will be a lot more justice for all."
