Verdict: Derek Chauvin Guilty For The Murder of George Floyd

There was a time when I followed trials and posted daily on this blog the videos or reports of what happened in court.  Although I still follow trials, I’m no longer able to write daily posts. 

I watched former Minneapolis, MN police officer Derek Chauvin’s trial.  When I was unable to watch live, I recorded it and watched in the evening.   The two most impressive witnesses for the prosecution, in my opinion, were George Floyd’s girlfriend Courtney Ross, and pulmonary expert Dr. Martin Tobin. 

Courtney Ross extinguished all demonizing of George’s opiate addiction.  Dr. Tobin calmly explained how George died, even pointing out when his brain stopped receiving oxygen and his body went into seizure. 

In this case, Derek Chauvin was held accountable for his decisions and actions that caused the death of George Floyd.  As his eyes darted back and forth, up and down, Chauvin heard verdicts on three counts; 2nd degree murder, 3rd degree murder, and 2nd degree manslaughter — all guilty.  He opted to have the judge decide his sentencing, which is scheduled 8 weeks from now.

The below video is the reading of the verdict.  George, you are now free to rest in peace. 

 

The impeachment trial of Donald J. Trump

This is a great summary. Thanks.

Abagond

US President Donald Trump on February 6th 2020.

The impeachment trial of US President Trump (January 16th to February 5th 2020) ended yesterday. The Senate, controlled by his own party, the Republicans, found him not guilty. He remains the president.

The two charges:

1. Abuse of power – for asking a foreign power, Ukraine, to help him win the 2020 election.
2. Obstruction of Congress – for refusing requests for witnesses and evidence.

Acquittal: Only 48% of the Senate found him guilty of the first charge, 47% of the second. Well short of the 67% required by the constitution.

No witnesses called: All but two Republicans voted to allow no witnesses to be called. What kind of trial is that?

The Republican arguments during the trial showed that the facts were not on their side.

• Some said Democrats had not proved their case – yet refused to allow any eyewitnesses to…

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U.S. President Donald J. Trump Impeached

December 18, 2019 is a day that goes down in history.  U.S. President Donald J. Trump was impeached by a majority vote in the U.S. House of Representatives.

House Majority Leader, Nancy Pelosi, has not yet given the passed Articles of Impeachment to the Senate, which is led by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.  Senators are to be impartial jurors at impeachment trials. McConnell has made public statements that he is not impartial and is working with White House personnel on how to conduct Trump’s trial.

During the debate in the House,  Republicans representatives presented their defense of Trump by accusing Democrats of wanting Trump impeached before he was sworn into office.  They made redundant and spurious arguments that Trump did not abuse his power when he made an Ukrainian investigation into Crowdsource and Joe and Hunter Biden conditional on releasing defense aid to Ukraine that Congress had already approved.

Former Dallas Police Officer Amber Guyger Sentenced To 10 Years for the Murder of Botham Jean

Botham Jean

On Sept. 6, 2018, Botham Jean was 26 years old when he was shot dead in his apartment by then Dallas police officer Amber Guyger.  Amber claimed that she thought she had gone to her own apartment and finding the door opened, that someone was inside.

Botham Jean was an accountant for Price Waterhouse, Coopers, an international auditing firm.  Testimony at trial included that he was eating ice cream in his apartment when Guyger opened the door.

On September 9, 2019, an arrest warrant for manslaughter was issued for Guyer.  According to the arrest warrant affidavit, Guyger told investigators that she parked on 4^th floor of the garage instead of the 3^rd floor.  When she put her key in the door of what she believed was her apartment, the door was ajar. She yelled at the purported burglar to show his hands, and then she fired twice.

A Dallas County grand jury indicted Guyger on November 30, 2018 on one count of murder.  Guyger plead not guilty.

The 31-year-old Guyger was fired from the Dallas Police Department days after the shooting. Her trial began on September 23, 2019.

Mohamed Noor Found Guilty For the Killing Of Justine Damond

Just a point made at trial.  The allegation that Justine banged on the police car was refuted by forensic evidence that found none of her fingerprints or DNA on the police car.

Abagond

Officer Noor with family members in 2016.

Mohamed Noor (1985- ) in 2015 became the first Somali American police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota. In 2019 he became the first police officer in Minnesota, of any race or ethnicity, found guilty of a crime for an on-duty police shooting.

Like Ilhan Omar, Noor came to Minneapolis in the 1990s as a child when his family fled the war in Somalia.

On the night of July 15th 2017, Justine Damond (nee Ruszczyk), a 40-year-old White woman, called police to report what sounded like a rape behind her house. As Noor tells it, when he and Officer Matthew Harrity arrived in a police car in the alley behind her house, there was a loud bang and then Damond suddenly appeared at Harrity’s open window. Her right arm was raised. Harrity said “Oh Jesus!” as he tried to draw his gun.

Noor:

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Fired Cop Nouman Raja Sentenced To 25 years For Killing Corey Jones

Corey Jones R.I.P.

The incident happened on October 18, 2015.  It appeared to be another case of a Black man on the side of the road being shot down by a cop who claimed that the “suspect” had a gun and he feared for his life.  The family of Corey Jones waited more than 3 years for the trial of Nouman Raja, 41.  The trial lasted 8 days, and the jury deliberated for 4 hours.  The all White jury of 4 men and 2 women convicted Raja of manslaughter by culpable negligence while armed, and attempted first-degree murder with a firearm.

The manslaughter count is punishable by up to 30 years.  The attempted murder count, for the bullets that missed Corey, is punishable by 25 years to life.   On April 25, 2019, Raja was sentenced to 25 years in prison for both counts, to be served concurrently.

The most interesting evidence in this case was the audio tape of Corey Jones calling for a tow truck.  Raja gave a false report that he immediately identified himself as a police officer.  Sun-Sentinel reports:

The main reason ex-cop Nouman Raja was found guilty Thursday — let alone even charged in the fatal shooting of stranded motorist Corey Jones — was an extraordinary audio recording.

This case, joining a series of police killings of young black men across the country, turned on the discovery of Jones’ recorded call for a tow truck that early morning of Oct. 18, 2015, on a highway off-ramp.

Played repeatedly in Raja’s eight-day trial, it allowed the jury to hear the tragic 3:15 a.m. encounter between the Palm Beach Gardens police officer and the beloved musician and family man, ending in six gunshots.

Prosecutors said Raja never identified himself as an officer and acted so aggressively that Jones must have thought he was about to be carjacked or killed. Raja said he first thought the SUV was empty, but then saw Jones inside. Raja’s supervisor testified the officer had been told to don a police vest if he approached a civilian. He didn’t. Prosecutors also questioned why Raja didn’t pull his badge from his pocket.

Jeffrey Ziegler Who Shot At 14-Year Old Brennan Walker Found Guilty of Two Charges

In April 2018, in the Detroit suburb of Rochester Hills, Brennan Walker missed his school bus.  His mom had taken his cell phone from him the night before, so he could not call or get a map to school.  He attempted to follow the path of the school bus but became lost.  He went to a house, rung the bell, and Jeffrey Ziegler grabbed a loaded shotgun.  Brennan ran, and Jeffrey took a shot at Brennan’s back.  Fortunately, he missed.

For more background on the case, see the post at this link.

Ziegler was charged with assault with intent to murder and felony firearms. The jury was given instructions on a lesser charge of assault with intent to do great bodily harm less than murder.  It took the jury three hours of deliberation to find Ziegler guilty of the lesser charge.  It carries a sentence of up to 10 years in prison.  Ziegler was also found guilty of possessing a firearm in the commission of a felony. which has a mandatory sentence of two years in prison.

Chicago Police Jason Van Dyke On Trial For Killing Laquan McDonald

17-year old Laquan McDonald was killed by Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke on October 20, 2014.  Van Dyke was not arrested until a judge set a date for the release of dash cam video.  That was in November 2015.

Van Dyke’s murder trial began the first week of September 2018 with jury selection.  Twelve jurors and 5 alternatives have been selected.  The jury consists of one Black woman, and two Blacks as alternatives.

On Thursday, September 20, 2018, the prosecution rested its case.  Van Dyke’s defense will now be presented to the jury.

Following the trial has been difficult for me due to personal matters, but I do plan on blogging the verdict.   Meanwhile, I have copied the post originally published in November 2015 because it contains background on what happened, including that without the intervention of Brandon Smith, an independent journalist,  Van Dyke might not have been charged.

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Originally published in November 2015.

It’s not what Laquan did or did not do. Rather, it is what the Chicago Police Department did after officer Jason Van Dyke killed Laquan.

Brandon Smith’s introduction on The Guardian, says that he  is a Chicago-based independent journalist who, with the help of whistleblowers and the Freedom of Information Act, has reported on civil rights abuses, privatization of public assets, digital privacy concerns and pollution of land and water.”

Journalist Brandon Smith, left, and activist William Calloway (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

“Independent journalist.” I like that title because it reflects a form of journalism that has almost gone the way of the dinosaur. It would be correct to replace “independent” with “investigative” in this matter, because what Brandon Smith did goes beyond reporting. Without the backing of a publication to finance his endeavors, Brandon Smith did not have to proceed at his own costs. Brandon worked along with another independent journalist, Jamie Kalven, and University of Chicago law professor Craig Futterman. Because they are independent journalists, they aren’t often issued press credentials to attend press conferences and such.  In fact, he was not allowed to attend the press conference that discussed the release of video that came about due to his persistence and good work.

Had they not been independent and determined, we would not have the video of the killing of Laquan McDonald. Without the release of the video, Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke would still be on paid desk duty; and his fictionalized report of what happened would be business as usual in cover-ups.

Police Officer Roy Oliver Found Guilty For the Murder of Jordan Edwards

Jordan Edwards

On the second day of deliberations, a Dallas jury found police officer Roy Oliver guilty of murder.  Oliver was found not guilty on two aggravated assault charges.

This was one heck of a trial.

Roy Oliver is the former Balch Springs, Texas officer charged with murder and two counts of aggravated battery by a public servant.  I first blogged about this case in May 2017 when Roy Oliver was charged for the April 29, 2017 incident.   His trial began on Thursday, August 16, 2018.

To summarize, Oliver and his partner were called about an under-aged drinking party.  However, no alcohol or drugs were found.  While in the house where the party was taking place, gunshots were heard outside.  (It was subsequently determined that the shots were unrelated to the party.)

Jordan Edwards, 15 years old, was at the party with friends and relatives.  When the police showed up, they decided to leave and went to the car.  They were trying to drive away when Oliver and his partner ran outside after hearing the gunshots.  Oliver used his service rifle and fired at least 5 shots into the car where Jordan was a passenger.  Jordan was shot in the head.

Jury Hangs In Trial For Man Who Killed John Hernandez With Choke Hold

John Hernandez

On July 24, 2017, I blogged about the strangling death of John Hernandez.  Two persons were charged; Terry Thompson and his wife, Harris County Deputy Sheriff Chauna Thompson.

To recap;

John Hernandez was at a Denny’s restaurant on May 28, 2017 in a town not far from Houston. Wait staff said he was celebrating his soccer team winning and was drunk, but he was not behaving belligerently.   Terry Thompson engaged John outside of the restaurant, who Thompson accused of urinating in public.  Thompson’s daughter called her mom, Chauna Thompson, who was off-duty.

Terry beat John who landed on the ground and then Terry proceeded to place John in a choke hold and got on John’s back.  Chauna arrived and pinned down one of John’s arms.  His other armed was underneath him. On her knees, Chauna yelled at Hernandez to “stay the f— down.” Her husband said to Hernandez: “Do you want me to hit you again?”

After paramedics arrived, John Hernandez was rushed to the hospital.  Some witnesses say that it took paramedics 40 minutes to arrive.  John was brain dead, went into a coma and died three days later.

A by-stander filmed the incident. 

Trial begins for widow of Orlando nightclub gunman

This gallery contains 5 photos.

Officer On Trial For Shooting Manuel Burnley, Jr. In The Back

A Brown Deer police officer, 28-year old Devon Kraemer, is on trial, charge with aggravated battery and intending great bodily harm for shooting 28-year old Manuel Burnley Jr. in the back.  If convicted, the officer faces up to 10 years in prison.  Brown Deer is a suburb of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Manuel Burnley, Jr. suffered rib fractures and lost part of a lung, but after 12 days in the hospital, he survived the shooting and lives to tell his side of the story at trial.

During jury selection, several potential jurors admitted they likely couldn’t be impartial when the defendant is a police office.  About 6 potential jurors said they keep “We Back the Badge” signs in their yard, and 1 person said he has a “Black Lives Matter” sign.  Two men said that even if the prosecutor presented solid evidence of guilt, they would not vote to convict.

One potential juror works in a dry cleaners patronized by police officers.  One woman said that she and her husband, both White, were profiled when they were stopped on the north side because of the kind of car they were driving. She said the officer looked shocked when her husband rolled down the window and saw they are not Black.  The officer warned him that the car’s tint was too dark.

The jury consists of 14; the standard 12 plus 2 alternates.   I was unable to find any information on the jurors who were selected.   A condition imposed on the media might prevent them from making that information available to the public because Manuel is Black, and the two officers involved are White.

Circuit Judge Christopher Dee has imposed extra restrictions on news media covering the trial, including a prohibition on showing the faces of all witnesses. He has also prohibited live streaming of the trial without his express permission.  Television station reporting staff is working the pool feed from a single bench. 

New York Police Officer Hugh Barry Found Not Guilty For Killing Deborah Danner

This is becoming the norm for America.  The dead cannot testify, and defendants testify what he or she thought the deceased was going to do that caused them to use discretion to take human life.

Hugh Barry, 32-years old, had been charged with murder, manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide for the killing of 66-year old Deborah Danner who was in a mental health crisis.

I followed the trial at this post.

Deborah Danner

Barry opted for a bench trial.  There was no jury and the judge was the only person hearing evidence and deciding the case. Justice Robert A. Neary of State Supreme Court presided over the trial.

Prosecutors argued that Barry created the conditions that placed him within a distance of Deborah Danner that he claimed caused him to feel threatened when Deborah picked up a baseball bat.  There were witnesses at trial that testified not seeing Deborah swing the bat at Barry as he claimed.  There were also witnesses that testified that they were following their training to calm Deborah down when Barry came into the apartment, walked past them, and entered Deborah’s bedroom.

Barry testified that he could not back away from Deborah because of other officers being too close behind him.

Trial Starts For Cop Charged With Murder In The Death of Deborah Danner

Deborah Danner

Deborah Danner was a 66-year old senior citizen with schizophrenia.  On October 18, 2016, Deborah was in her Bronx apartment when a neighbor called the police and reported that Deborah was screaming. New York City Police Sergeant Hugh Barry arrived on the scene and shot Deborah dead.  For more about what happened, see my post from May 2017.

In May 2017, Barry was charged with murder, manslaughter, and criminally negligent homicide.  His trial began yesterday, January 30, 2018.  It is expected to last 3 weeks.  Barry has waived his rights to a jury trial and opted for a bench trial.  The question to be decided by Judge Robert A. Neary is whether Sergeant Barry had exhausted other options for safely containing Ms. Danner before he fired his pistol.  As I’ve written in other posts, this is clearly an abuse of discretion standard; not a beyond a reasonable doubt standard.

Deborah was intelligent.  She wrote a six-page essay about her illness to a lawyer saying, “We are all aware of the all too frequent news stories about the mentally ill who come against law enforcement instead of mental health professionals and end up dead.”

The Message In His Defense Is that Black Lives Matter Is An Inconvenience Because Had Deborah Been White, Barry Would Not Have Been Charged For Killing Her

Ocoee Florida Police Officer Found Guilty For Shooting Into Occupied House

Not only did officer Carlos Anglero shoot into a house, he shot into the wrong house.  The 911 dispatcher gave him the wrong address.

On February 6, 2016, Anglero was dispatched to a domestic disturbance call. The Winter Garden police dispatcher told Anglero that a mother and daughter were arguing, that the daughter wanted to leave the house on Bent Grass Avenue, and her mother told her she was too drunk to drive and wouldn’t give her the car keys. The daughter called police and said she would wait for officers in the driveway.

The dispatcher, however, entered the street name as “Bend Grass” which is about a half mile away from the address given to the dispatcher.

Anglero turned off his headlights as he neared the house.  There was no one waiting in the driveway.  Two other officers and a trainee arrived.  Officer Stephanie Roberts rang the bell and knocked on the door.

Trial testimony revealed that the homeowner, Christopher Lewis, woke up after hearing the noise. Christopher is a retired electrical engineer.  His wife and their son, who is now 14, were in the house. He did not know who the people outside his door were and did not hear an answer when he asked who was there. He got his Glock 19 handgun, which he had never fired before, and walked back toward the door with it down by his side.  Christopher Lewis testified that he did not point the gun at anyone, and that he had no idea that the people outside his house were police officers.

Officer Stephanie Roberts shined her flashlight through the pane of glass in the front door and yelled “gun”.

Officer Roberts testified that she fired about two shots through the glass and retreated. The homeowner, Christopher Lewis testified that he could feel a bullet whiz past his left ear, and that he dove to the ground in the room next to the foyer and yelled for his wife to call 911.

Anglero’s story was that he did not realize his partner fired the shots and thought they were coming from inside the house.  Anglero fired through the door. A total of 9 bullets were fired.

New York Cop Goes On Trial For Killing Delrawn Small

Delrawn Small

Delrawn Small, 37-years old, worked as a maintenance engineer at a Chelsea supermarket.  He was raising three children and two stepchildren.

On July 4, 2016, Delrawn was in his car with his family when he was allegedly cut-off in traffic by Wayne Isaacs, who had just left his shift as a New York police officer.  Isaacs was out of uniform, but was carrying his service weapon.

At a red light, Delrawn approached Isaacs’ car.  Isaacs fired three times, hitting Delrawn in the arm, chest and abdomen, killing him.

Officer Wayne Isaacs, who joined the department in 2013, stayed at the scene and told investigators that he acted in self-defense after Mr. Small punched him through an open window.

Based on a preliminary investigation, police initially said they believed Isaacs opened fire after Delrawn reached through the officer’s open window and repeatedly hit him on the head as he sat behind the wheel.  Isaacs’ claimed that he shot Delrawn in self-defense.

Then surveillance video surfaced.

A Police Officer’s Response to the Killing of Philando Castile

Btx3's Blog

This in the letter section of a Minneapolis Paper. It points our that Officer Yanez could have retreated – and should have, if there was any question in his mind.

There was nothing about the stop that indicated that Castile posed any danger to the public. The “crime” he was stopped for was a basic traffic ticket – and in a lot of jurisdictions, would result in no fine if the driver went and got the issue fixed

Letters: ‘This shouldn’t have happened,’ cop says of Castile shooting

I have been a police officer for 19 years. I love my job and serving my community. I have learned over the course of my career to never assume anything. As I watched the events unfold on July 6, 2016, on a Facebook Live feed, I thought that there must be more that happened. There must have been such a threat that…

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Former Milwaukee Police Officer Dominique Heaggan-Brown On Trial For First-Degree Reckless Homicide

Dominique Heaggan-Brown

Dominique Heaggan-Brown (25 years old) is a former Milwaukee police officer.  He shot and killed 23-year old Sylville Smith in Milwaukee’s Sherman Park neighborhood on August 13, 2016.  On December 15, 2016, Heaggan-Brown was charged with one count of first-degree reckless homicide.  If convicted, he can be sentenced to a maximum of 60 years in prison.

At the time of the shooting, Sylville was armed with a semi-automatic pistol.  Heaggan-Brown and his partner wore body cameras which show that Sylville threw the gun over a fence into a yard.  Heaggan-Brown shot Sylville, who fell to the ground on his back and had his hands near his head.  Heaggan-Brown then shot Syville again, center mass.  At the time he fired the second and fatal shot, Sylville was unarmed.

In his interview, Heaggan-Brown said that he fired once at which time he observed the pistol fly out of Smith’s hands and over the fence into the backyard of the residence. Smith then fell to the ground and Heaggan-Brown believed he was reaching for his waist so he discharged his weapon a second time.  At no time after the shooting did Heaggan-Brown or any other officer search Smith for a second firearm.

Ray Tensing’s Retrial Begins For The Killing of Samuel Dubose

Samuel Dubose

Ray Tensing is a former University of Cincinnati officer who shot and killed Samuel Dubose during a traffic stop in 2015.  A mistrial was declared on November 12, 2016.  The straw poll by jurors was unanimous for murder.  After 25 hours of deliberation however, four jurors were ready to convict Tensing of murder, four were ready to convict him of voluntary manslaughter and four were ready to find him not guilty.  The jury consisted of 2 Black women, 4 White women and 6 White men.

The trial was covered on this blog.

Ray Tensing

Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters said that how jurors went from unanimously agreeing on a murder conviction in their straw poll to being unable to reach a verdict on any charge is unclear.  He talked to the jurors and said that he learned a lot.

On November 28, 2016, Deter announced that he was retrying Tensing on the charges of murder and involuntary manslaughter.

The jury for Tensing’s retrial has now been seated.  It consists of 7 White women, 2 White men, 1 Black man and 2 Black women.

Opening statements are anticipated for this morning.  The trial is being live streamed at this link.    I’ll update in the comment section below.

Trial Begins For Officer Jeronimo Yanez In The Shooting Death of Philando Castile

On July 6, 2016, Philando Castile was in Falcon Heights, a suburb of St. Paul, Minnesota, when he was fatally shot by Jeronimo Yanez, a St. Anthony, Minnesota police officer.  Diamond Reynolds and her 4-year-old daughter were passengers.  Diamond live-streamed Philando’s dying moments and the aftermath on Facebook.  The officer shot 7 times, hitting Philando Castile 5 times, twice in the heart.

Yanez’s attorney, Thomas Kelly, said Yanez stopped Castile because he matched the description of a suspect in a robbery a few days earlier. (Castile was found to not be connected to the robbery.)

Today, prosecutor Dusterhoft told the jury;

“What he could see were dreadlocks, eyeglasses and the fact that Mr. Castile was a black man,” Dusterhoft said. “Based on that glimpse” he stopped the car in Falcon Heights.”

Jeronimo Yanez has been charged with three felony counts; second-degree manslaughter and two counts of dangerous discharge of a firearm.

On June 5, 2017, a jury was seated and opening statements were made.  The jury consists of 9 men and 6 women which includes 3 alternates.  There is one Black man and one Black woman on the jury.