phork
Raining On Your Parade
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The body cameras are a great idea but keep in mind the officer controls when the camera is on and off....
It should automatically activate once the vehicle is exited. No choice.
The body cameras are a great idea but keep in mind the officer controls when the camera is on and off....
Really doubt it, but it's too bad. Low gun countries are great.
Bwahahahahahaha
Great for communists and invaders.
Great for terrorists.
Drug dealers, etc.
Canada is a great place. Just sayin.
Canada is a great place. Just sayin.
Bwahahahahahaha
Great for communists and invaders.
Great for terrorists.
Drug dealers, etc.
So.
Let us know what it's like living there.
P.S, they have guns in Canada.
My buddy slayed moose and Alberta Whitetails.
So, does not compute, ay.
Texas: now that's a great country to live in, take away American gun rights, and the great country of Texas will be just fine. And when yall need help, Texas will come. With guns blazing.
Texas executes more people as a state than like any other country except for China and Iran, so I'm not sure that it's a great model state for most things.
I am 100% full support for body cameras, not for the civilians, but for the protection of police.
Entering the 14th hour of deliberations, the jury in the trial of Michael Slager were called back into deliberations after informing the judge that they were deadlocked. The former North Charleston officer charged with the shooting death of Walter Scott looked on, expressionless, as Circuit Court Judge Clifton Newman informed the jurors that they have a duty to do everything in their power to decide upon a unanimous verdict regarding Slager’s guilt or innocence.
Returning to the courtroom Friday afternoon, Slager sat at the defense table alone staring straight ahead as he awaited any word from the jury. The night before, the jurors had requested definitions from Judge Newman regarding “passion” and “fear” — two terms that appear in the charge orders the jury was given before they began deliberations. Passion is a key consideration for the jury as they contemplate the possibility of a voluntary manslaughter charge for the former officer. According to the instructions received by the jury, the prosecution must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant took Scott’s life in a sudden heat of passion. Meanwhile, the jury must also decide if Slager acted in self-defense when he killed Scott, fearing for his life.
Slager faces a charge for murder, and if found guilty would spend 30 years to life in prison. The jury is also considering a lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter, which carries with it a prison sentence of two to 30 years.
The jury notified the judge of their indecision 12 minutes after requesting a transcript of the testimony provided by Feidin Santana, the eyewitness who recorded cellphone footage of Scott’s shooting. Santana watched from the courtroom as the jury then informed the judge that revisiting his testimony would do nothing to help them arrive at a clear verdict.
Before sending the jury back into deliberations, Judge Newman asked the jurors to consider each others opinions but remain firm in their beliefs. He also reminded the jury that he would be required to declare a mistrial should they fail to arrive at a verdict. That means the possibility of retrying the case with a new jury, tasked with examining the same evidence and potentially reaching a decision.
A lone juror said Friday he can't convict a white former police officer who fatally shot a black man in South Carolina, and the jury said they want to continue deliberating.
The juror in a letter to the court said "I cannot in good conscience consider a guilty verdict" against Michael Slager, a former patrolman who pulled over Walter Scott in North Charleston, and ended up shooting him as a bystander recorded the incident on video.
The jury foreperson said in a separate note to the court that it was only one juror who was "having issues," Circuit Judge Clifton Newman said. The juror opposed to conviction said in the letter, "I cannot and will not change my mind," Newman said.
But the jury said it wanted to continue deliberating, and requested to return at 9 a.m. Monday. The jury said it would have questions at that time.
Slager was charged with murder in Scott's killing, although the jury was allowed to consider a lesser charge of manslaughter in addition to murder.
Earlier, the jury said at around 1 p.m. Friday that it had been unable to come to a conclusion, and Newman ordered them to resume deliberations.
The jury at that time sent a message to Newman asking to see a transcript of the testimony from the man who took cellphone video of Slager shooting Scott. Newman offered to let jurors listen to audio of the testimony, but they declined, saying they didn't believe it would change anything and said they couldn't reach a verdict.
"If you do not agree on a verdict, I must declare a mistrial," Newman said. "The same participants will come, and the same lawyers will likely ask basically the same questions, and get basically the same answers and we will go through this whole process again."
Slager, 35, has been charged with murder in the death of Scott, 50, who was not armed. Scott was shot five times in the back while running from Slager during the traffic stop.
Lone juror says he can't convict ex-cop in Walter Scott killing - AOL News
ELIZABETH CHUCK Dec 2nd 2016 7:17PM
This smells of Jury Tampering...how can you NOT convict this cop? What other information am I missing here?
Really? Why tampering?
Or does it smell like a juror opposed to either the murder conviction for a cop OR opposed to just plain convicting a cop?
... or a bigot?
Anyone of those 3 shouldn't be serving on a jury.
If we give the lawyers the benefit of the doubt, they selected people to serve on the jury whom did not have hangups that would prevent them from convicting ... but now someone has a hangup convicting....
Jurors in the trial of former South Carolina patrolman Michael Slager informed the judge just after 3:30 p.m. that they were deadlocked and the judge declared a mistrial.
The judge had given jurors additional instructions earlier in the day, including reminding them that a guilty verdict must be beyond a reasonable doubt.
Slager is charged in the shooting death of 50-year-old Walter Scott, who was shot five times in the back last year while running from Slager during a traffic stop in North Charleston..
The jury resumed deliberations Monday morning as the defense continued to request a mistrial.
The jurors asked Circuit Judge Clifton Newman for clarity on the meanings and definitions of several phrases, including imminent danger, malice aforethought, provocation and self-defense.
The judge merged concerns from the defense and prosecution about the jury’s request into a single written response that he prepared for the jury.
The judge returned with the response at about 12:30 p.m. Monday,and shared it with attorneys before calling the jury back to the courtroom.
The prosecution and defense reviewed the judge’s response. The defense asked the judge to add that there is no malice if one has a just cause to act.
The judge reminded the jury to accept the law as defined by him. The written response explained that manslaughter was included as an option because it is a lesser but included crime in a murder case. The judge defined manslaughter as an unlawful killing without the malice of murder.
The judge’s response to jurors included telling them that they cannot convict Slager of murder or manslaughter unless the charge has been proven beyond a reasonable doubt.
The response also said that if the defendant believed he was in danger because of some provocation by the victim, it could have induced the heat of passion.
Newman said self-defense would be the case if a person of normal prudence and courage felt in danger.
The judge’s response said a conviction for murder requires determining if a person acted with malice aforethought.
Newman said the new instructions were to be taken in conjunction with previous instructions and they should be treated as a whole.
The defense asked that the judge re-instruct the jury regarding the potential manslaughter charge, saying that the nomenclature of it being a “lesser offense” might influence the jury when it is a crime considered in the same category as murder with similar penalties.
The defense also asked that the judge charge the jury that both provocation and heat of passion must exist or manslaughter should be taken off the table, and that the judge instruct the jury that that malice must have existed at the time the shots were fired for a charge of murder.
The prosecution argued that all of the charges as given to the jury were appropriate.
The judge said the defense’s requests to modify the instructions to the jury were not timely and additional information given to the jury would lead to confusion. He said his responsibility was to answer the jury’s questions, not to change the original charge to the jury.
Within minutes, the word came that the jury was deadlocked.
The jury deliberated more than 20 hours over four days before deadlocking.
Most likely it's one of the three things BGIF mentioned. The juror has said his opinion won't change no matter what. Other jurors are asking this one be removed. The judge wants them to deliberate more and to have the juror ask more questions in order to reevaluate the jurors opinion. It seems to me that 11 jurors are saying he is guilty of murder. The lesser charge is manslaughter but the hung juror is not even going to give him that. So it looks like a mistrial and retrial with new jury.
IDK if it was posted but this jury was made up of 11 white people and 1 black person. Lol
But it does matter. Especially in North Charleston/Hanahan where police tactics have a long history of severe treatment to blacks. I don't know the personality makeup of the jurors so I can't comment there but to have 11 white jurors and 1 black juror is going to be perceived as not representative of the community. I can tell you that from living here. North Charleston is 47% low income blacks and 37% low to mid income whites. While this statement from The Charleston NAACP is no where near the attitude of BLM it is a concernThat shouldn't matter.
I am white and i support police a lot considering that i work with them and know information don't.
With that said i do believe the cop is guilty and should be found as such.