Sunday, February 16, 2014

To (Some) Florida Prosecutors....why?

Here’s the scene.  White man with gun.  Black person with no gun.  Bang Bang.  Black person is dead.  White person goes to jail.  Black person is buried.  White person goes home.  

That just doesn’t quite make any sense does it?  Welcome to Florida!!!!


So why do Florida prosecutors keep charging people with the wrong crime?  Are they unaware they will not get a conviction?  Orrrrrrr, are they completely aware that they will not get a conviction?  Hmmmmmm.  


First degree murder has specific criteria.  It has to be proven to be premeditated, which essentially means that the person committing the crime planned to purposely harm or kill the victim.  It can also mean the person was engaged in a felony crime and happened to have harmed or killed the victim.  Now obviously, George Zimmerman and Michael Dunn did not know their victims prior to killing them (Doesn’t that just sound fucked up) so premeditation is not applicable.  They were committing no felony crime so that brings that over to the null side of the list as well.  


In my own opinion, these prosecutors are quite aware they can’t get a conviction on those first degree murder charges.  However, they are under huge amounts of pressure from the public, the media and mostly definitely the family/friends of the victim.  Are they succumbing to the pressure?  I would sincerely hope not.  That would just be one more check on the list showing they are ill equipped to handle their position.  And don’t get me wrong, it’s not a position or job I would want to have at all.  But if you can’t handle your handle, let it go.  


If you can’t get a conviction, how do you get yourself off the hook with the public, the media and the family/friends of the victim?  You do your job in court, you go before the media and make all sorts of promises to do your best.  


And then when the jury is put into a position of having to follow the rules of the law for first degree murder, they will be in a position of finishing what you couldn’t handle.  They have to find this person not guilty.  And they are subjected to the hostility of everyone.  How could the jury not convict?  Is the jury white?  Was the jury racist?  Was the jury stupid?  

The prosecutors can then go before the media and have a pity party explaining about how hard they worked and that the jury just didn’t see it their way.  BULLSHIT!!!!  

I understand that every victim’s family wants the killer to sit in the electric chair or spend 5 years beyond death in a prison cell.  But the law just doesn’t work that way.  You know it.  Lots of others know it.  Why not explain it and stick to what you can get a conviction on?  Charge the killer for the crime he committed.  It may not look as good to the family, but at the very least, you can sleep with a clear heart that you did your job the way you were supposed to do.  
Why are you making an unpaid, uneducated jury take the blame on your inability to communicate the truth about the cases?    

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