This is why cops get away with murder: because judges let them get away with murder
A judge on Friday tossed out an involuntary manslaughter charge against a Detroit police officer who shot and killed a 7-year-old girl during a 2010 police raid.
This appears to have come down to the judge just not "hearing" that elements of "manslaughter" were available in the proceedings/evidence to date.
Involuntary manslaughter carries a stipulation of willful negligence but “the entire trial has been about the carelessness of the defendant based on his skills… Nowhere did I hear anything about a willful negligence,” Gray Hathaway said.
Prosecutors made an emergency appeal to restore the manslaughter charge, which the judge is expected to review on Monday.
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The retrial of Weekley comes during a national uproar over issues of police brutality and use of excessive force after an officer shot and killed an unarmed teenager in Ferguson, Mo., sparking weeks of unrest.
I encourage every community, every person who feels victimized by the police to begin demanding reviews of what cops have been allowed to get away with.
it is this being allowed to get away with murder that fuels the uptick we are seeing. Cops simply EXPECT to get away with whatever they do.
What NEEDS to happen: To Stop Police Brutality, Take the Millions in Settlement Money Out Of Cop Budgets
October 2, 2014 |
As the national conversation around racism and police brutality quickly fades—ramped up briefly in the wake of Michael Brown’s death—U.S. taxpayers remain stuck footing the bills for their local law enforcement’s aggressive behavior. This week alone, Baltimore agreed to pay $49,000 to man who sued over a violent arrest in 2010, Philadelphia agreed to pay $490,000 to a man who was abused and broke his neck while riding in a police van in 2011, and St. Paul agreed to pay $95,000 to a man who suffered a skull injury, a fractured eye socket, and a broken nose in 2012.
In 2013, Chicago paid out a stunning $84.6 million in police misconduct settlements, judgments, and legal fees. Bridgeport, Connecticut, paid a man $198,000 this past spring after video footage captured police shooting him twice with a stun gun, then stomping all over him as he lay on the ground. And in California, Oakland recently agreed to pay $4.5 million to settle a lawsuit a man filed after being shot in the head, leaving him with permanent brain damage. You get the picture.
“That’s why these enormous financial penalties do not seem to actually impact what police do,” said David Harris, a law professor at the University of Pittsburgh who specializes in criminal justice issues. “Conceivably, if cities didn’t want this to happen, they could say this will come out of your [police] budget.”The thing is, these steep payments rarely come from the police department budgets—instead they’re financed through the city’s general coffers or the city’s insurance plan. It’s the taxpayer, not the law enforcement agency, who pays the price.
Let off the hook in court, let off the hook even when found liable and the city has to pay: this is why cops don't change: they NEVER feel the pain of appropriate consequences.
They are EMBOLDENED.
Piggery such as we see now NEEDS to result in impoverished police budgets, if not a lot of cops ACTUALLY facing the music for their ongoing and needless shit.
[NOTE] Please go look at (and rec) Joanmar's diary Take Action! The Michael Brown Over-Policed Rights Act (Draft 6). Thanks.