One of them suggested they burn the evidence and wash their clothes before talking to police, and made it clear charges won’t be filed.
there was racism involved but it wasn’t on the part of @beschizza .
What grounds would they have for appeal? The only way I see them getting out of jail is if they get pardoned at the state level, and even if that happens they are still federal hate crime charges which could carry another life sentence.
These guys, as far as I know from afar, deserve to burn. But will the message sent by their conviction and sentencing be heard by others of their ilk? Will it be a deterrent? Or must, as I suspect, “polite” society do more to tamp down the racism running rampant amongst us? It’s not enough to merely make racists afraid to expose their racism, to drive it underground, we need effective strategies to undercut racism so new generations aren’t steeped in family tradition (tradition; the reason we do things this way because we forgot why we do it this way).
Well we got two generations of this particular family put away for their racist act of murder so that’s a start.
I will say this, 2 life sentences without parole, the other guy getting out when he’s 82+ years old. And a DA going to probably end up going to jail for trying to cover it up. And yet, we’re still wary. As much as no one wins in this, this was about as good an outcome as you can get for justice for Ahmaud. Sometimes things do turn out okay and we should really celebrate the judge, prosecutor, and jury
Will other racist self-appointed protectors be deterred? I doubt it.
It’s revealed by the (rarely prosecuted) “self-defense” numbers - the racial disparities, how many people killed weren’t armed, etc. Those statistics alone paint an ugly picture about how often things like this may be happening. Which is why, even with all the attention being paid to this case, I wasn’t sure they’d get a conviction - the laws are written and interpreted to let guys like this off.
Not in the slightest. They applaud the vigilante effort and downplay the racism, so instead of racist murderers they consider these guys as bumbling goofs that made legal mistakes.
The deplorables believe their whole world is under attack… everything from their freedoms to their front door. Deplorables believe they are victims, not racists.
welp, good to know that what happened today did not matter on iota to some.
When our buddies are chasing someone, with guns, and loudly threatening his life, what is it that we think is going to happen?
It’s kind of amazing that this entirely correct decision was handed down in GA, and people are STILL laughing at us dumb ass rednecks… Maybe they need to take a fucking look at their own prisons, filled with our Black, Brown, and indigenous brothers and sisters along with that log in their own fucking eyeballs.
I’m shocked that criminals don’t want to see themselves as criminals.
Or that I should care what they say they’re not afraid of to puff themselves up. They all wouldn’t be squealing so much if it didn’t matter to them.
It’s a good thing they were convicted and got life. It’s a good thing that racist cops are being prosecuted and losing. These guys won’t be able to go meet Tuckems and hit the lecture circuit.
It matters to the victims family and friends that these sentences were given. It matters to others in his community to see justice. It matters to the rest of us who want a more just society.
It’s not all about whether we can convince criminals to admit their beliefs are wrong. But it will effect how they act. Certainly more than doing nothing. Our job isn’t to convince them. It’s justice and deterring their future actions.
They’re not happy today. Good.
I’m thankful this verdict will help the average Joe think twice about their fantasies of neighborhood vigilantism.
But I’m speaking about the fascists in this country that are emboldened more than ever and this one verdict is inconsequential to them.
At least 57 people that were part of the Jan 6 capitol riots are now running for elected offices. A few prosecutions are not going to be enough to slow down the propaganda they are being fed or demonstrate that they are not needing to save the USA from Dems.
I’m not sure how crapping on this verdict helps that?
Someone asked if this is going to change anything, and my answer is that it will not. That is all.
The reason I am speaking up is because I interact with the deplorables often. I see their propaganda, their determination, and their fear based righteousness on full display. I am extremely worried we are headed for very bad times and see the Dems unable to quell any of this for almost two decades now.
So you lean towards expressing learned helplessness as the correct response to our times rather than considering how to win?
Three people who chased down a black person and murdered him, and almost got away with it because of MULTIPLE racist DAs and a police force won’t do it again. One of the DAs probably will go to prison, or at very least be permanently disbarred and will never be put in this position again. You’re wondering how this will dissuade others from doing the same thing, and that’s the wrong question.
How many black people jogging around in Georgia just had their lives saved by this? That’s the right question. These people are a danger to society, and are now never going to be a danger to society again. There definitely are more, and we’ll get them too. But these? They almost got away with it once. They ABSOLUTELY would do it again if they knew they could get away with it.
I found this comforting, great post and thanks for sharing.
I don’t pretend to understand the mysteries of sentencing. But my guess is that those kinds of sentences become relevant in appeals, should an appeals court reduce the life sentence in some way. If those two somehow became eligible for pardons, this would ensure they served 50 years before consideration rather than 30.