A federal jury Wednesday acquitted a white Louisiana trooper charged with violating the civil rights of a Black motorist despite body-camera footage that showed the officer pummeling the man 18 times with a flashlight.

A federal jury in Louisiana on Wednesday acquitted a white state trooper charged with violating the civil rights of a Black motorist despite body-camera footage that showed the officer pummeling the man 18 times with a flashlight.

  • Fredselfish @lemmy.ml
    741·
    1 year ago

    Let me guess the jury was made up of a mostly white male jury?

    Exactly how did he get aquiitted. These fucking states are si fucking racist you can’t get a fair trail there unless your white.

    • Madison420@lemmy.world
      4·
      1 year ago

      They probably expected to lose this one only to appeal immediately and hope appeals knows their ass from their elbow.

      • FlowVoid
        2·
        1 year ago

        I doubt it, since prosecutors generally cannot appeal a verdict of not guilty.

          • FlowVoid
            1·
            1 year ago

            The citizen can’t appeal either. Prosecutors are in charge of a criminal case, not citizens.

              • FlowVoid
                1·
                1 year ago

                This wasn’t a civil case. This was a criminal case. Depriving someone of their civil rights is a federal crime. The officer was prosecuted by Brandon Brown.

                U.S. Attorney Brandon Brown, who is not related to Jacob Brown, told AP he was proud of the 48-year-old Bowman for having the courage to tell his story.

                “These cases are arguably the toughest that we investigate and prosecute,” he said. “We believe that this victim’s civil rights were violated. Unfortunately for us the jury didn’t agree, and we’ll have to respect their decision.”

                • Madison420@lemmy.world
                  1·
                  1 year ago

                  You take the officer to civil court, win, take that win and use it for a public interest appeal, win be vindicated. The prosecutor doesn’t take part in the next step homie.

                  • FlowVoid
                    1·
                    1 year ago

                    Winning a case like this in civil court is extremely difficult. Police always claim qualified immunity, and then the case is nearly always thrown out.

                    And appeals courts, all the way up to the Supreme Court, tend to side with police whenever they claim qualified immunity.

    • meco03211@lemmy.world
      41·
      1 year ago

      Let me guess the jury was made up of a mostly white male jury?

      Here comes the story of the Hurricane.

    • dartos@reddthat.com
      611·
      1 year ago

      The lawyers on both sides have influence on who gets into the jury. If the jury had such an overwhelming bias, then the lawyers are to blame…. As always

        • dartos@reddthat.com
          17·
          1 year ago

          I never said they did.

          they choose who to exclude. They have influence on the jury selection.

          • Zaktor@lemmy.world
            11·
            1 year ago

            You can’t exclude your way to having a representative jury. If the opposing side strikes all/most of the black people, none of your strike choices can make the jury more black.

            Why Is It So Easy for Prosecutors to Strike Black Jurors?

            There are no comprehensive statistics on how often prosecutors strike jurors based on race, but there is little doubt that the practice remains common, especially in the South. In Caddo Parish, Louisiana, prosecutors struck forty-eight per cent of qualified black jurors between 1997 and 2009 and only fourteen per cent of qualified whites, according to a review by the Louisiana Capital Assistance Center. In Jefferson Parish, where a quarter of the population is black, the split was even greater—fifty-five per cent to sixteen per cent—so that twenty-two per cent of felony trials between 1994 and 2002 had no black jurors.

            • dartos@reddthat.com
              11·
              1 year ago

              Yeah, but you can exclude your way to having a non representative jury… which happens very often.

              • Zaktor@lemmy.world
                2·
                1 year ago

                Your original statement was that the lawyers on both sides have influence. Which they do, but only one side is responsible for all white juries. It’s not a failure of the other side for allowing that to happen.