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.

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[–] 95 points 3 years ago (4 children)

Brown still faces state charges in the violent arrest of yet another Black motorist, a case in which he boasted in a group chat with other troopers that “it warms my heart knowing we could educate that young man.”

To be continued...

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  • [–] 29 points 3 years ago (3 children)

    I am assuming this guy still has a job... jfc

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  • [–] 3 points 3 years ago (2 children)

    Resigned in 2021. Its in the article.

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  • [+] [S] 67 points 3 years ago (18 children)
  • [–] 74 points 3 years ago (16 children)

    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.

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  • [–] 4 points 3 years ago (6 children)

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

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  • [–] 2 points 3 years ago (5 children)

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

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  • [–] 2 points 3 years ago (4 children)

    I mean the citizen, you assume the crooked local court is going to do crooked local court shit.

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  • [–] 1 point 3 years ago (3 children)

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

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  • [–] 1 point 3 years ago* (2 children)

    There is no prosecutor in civil court.

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  • [–] 1 point 3 years ago* (1 child)

    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.”

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  • [–] -5 points 3 years ago (5 children)

    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

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  • [–] 17 points 3 years ago (4 children)

    The lawyers don't pick who is in the jury pool.

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  • [+] -6 points 3 years ago* (3 children)

    I never said they did.

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

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  • [–] 11 points 3 years ago* (2 children)

    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.

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  • [–] 0 points 3 years ago (1 child)

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

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  • [–] 2 points 3 years 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.

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  • [–] 66 points 3 years ago

    I wonder how many people will act surprised when the next protests will end up even more violent.

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  • [+] 32 points 3 years ago (10 children)
  • [–] 39 points 3 years ago (2 children)

    For starters, let's be clear: Jacob Brown committed battery, a violation of Louisiana state law. This case is about an alleged violation of Federal law and simply isn't a battery case. That means it's not as cut and dry as "we have this guy on video committing battery with a flashlight, of course he's guilty".

    This is what Jacob Brown was charged with violating: https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/242

    So if you want to claim this case is open and shut or cut and dry, you need to point to some element of that law Jacob violated and then explain how it's so obvious he violated that element.

    My first guess, and to be clear, I am speculating, is that they tried to prove Jacob battered Aaron because Aaron was black. That means proving beyond a reasonable doubt that Jacob doesn't simply beat everyone up, which is very difficult to prove, especially since so many cops genuinely do simply beat everyone up.

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  • [–] 17 points 3 years ago (1 child)

    We can only guess.

    On an entirely unrelated note, here's an article about Robert Fuller, who would later become leader of the Original Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.

    https://lailluminator.com/2021/08/25/louisiana-was-home-to-one-of-the-most-horrific-killings-of-civil-rights-era-in-1960/

    Oh, what a strange coincidence. Monroe, Louisiana.

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  • [–] 8 points 3 years ago (2 children)

    Systemic issues. The problem is that the jury is probably correct that under current Louisiana laws this pig did nothing wrong technically. We all know it's fucked up but we've allowed our laws to be shaped by the people who abuse them.

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  • [–] 14 points 3 years ago*

    Whether he broke the law or not is completely irrelevant. 9 times out of 10, a jury in Louisiana is going to be composed of white racists who will always side with a white cop, because that's the primary demographic of the state.

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  • [–] 23 points 3 years ago

    God i hate Louisiana. Just a resource colony with the resource curse, sports, and parades...

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  • [–] 7 points 3 years ago

    Aren't juries great

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  • [–] 4 points 3 years ago
    [+] -1 points 3 years ago* (last edited 3 years ago)
    [removed by mod]
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