Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/06/03/george-floyd-killing-derek-ch.html
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That seems about right. Many were hoping for 1st Degree Murder charges, but in most jurisdictions that would require evidence of premeditation (as in, Chauvin was planning to kill Floyd before the encounter).
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About Tou Thao
About the charges to the 3 cops that stood by: Good. It was only a matter of time, and i’m particularly happy to see the murder charges upped by prosecution. No way that all of this would’ve happened without the protests. No more, this shit stops.
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Still notably missing from Klobuchar’s Twitter feed today: any acknowledgement that George Floyd would still be alive if she had prosecuted Chauvin the last time he killed someone on the clock.
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I’m afraid this shit isn’t going to stop until such charges happen on a regular basis… And the entire police culture understands the ramifications of killing the citizenry.
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This sends a message that we’re not just watching, we’re no longer going to sit idly by helpless while they cover each other’s asses. I’m not naive to think change will be quick or easy, abuses will still happen and we see as much during these protests. But this is an important moment and i can only hold onto hope for real change.
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2nd degree and charging the other officers is actually better than I’d hoped for, honestly; given our country’s shitty track record of holding corrupt authorities accountable for their crimes.
She ain’t never gonna own that shit, but that just means we never let her forget it.
And Grandpa Joe sure as fuck better not pick her as his running mate…
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Prediction: Zero jail time, 4 lifetime 100% pensions, and health insurance.
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She would be one of the worst possible choices. I’d still vote for them…but I’d have bile in my mouth while doing it.
She was on NPR this morning talking about “We put these things before grand juries and allowed them to decide”. ugh
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Perhaps the riots and unrest that’s going on all across country right now might derail that usual course… we are living in a batshit reality now, so anything is possible, (if not necessarily probable.)
Even something that’s so seldom seen - actual justice.
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We live in Minnesota and Klobuchar is our senator. She is a senator because of name recognition, her dad was an exceptionally talented columnist for the state’s largest newspaper and was beloved by all. My wife suggested (and I agree) that had she been Amy Johnson, her political career would have ended on a city council somewhere. She came up with the tag “#Senator Karen” which seems quite apropos.
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(IANAL!) Isn’t there a serious danger that he’ll be acquitted of 2nd, by a jury that would’ve convicted him on 3rd?
If 1st is premeditation, 2nd is (intentional) murder on the spur of the moment, and 3rd is wanton carelessness leading to death, then I’d’ve thought that 3rd applied a lot more closely in this case than 2nd. (I say “if” because I’ve never been on a murder trial jury, I could easily be wrong about the distinctions here.) I guess ignoring the “I’m about to die” is what ups it? Or maybe the idea to rattle him into taking 3rd in a plea deal?
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I also ANAL but my understanding is there’s technically no 3rd-degree, it’s ‘manslaughter’ in that case. You’ve got the characterization more or less right though. Manslaughter is unintentional in nature. So to make 2nd stick you need to prove without a doubt that Chauvin ‘in the heat of the moment’ as they say, killed a dude, rather than killed a dude through pure negligence. Personally I think there’s a chance 2nd won’t stick where the manslaughter charge had a better chance of sticking.
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Nobody “negligently” or “unintentionally” kneels on a person’s neck for 9 minutes while they’re crying “I can’t breathe” until they die. That’s murder.
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My uninformed take on it is that it couldn’t be purely accidental as to be manslaughter because he was cool, calm and collected while kneeling on him as people that were watching were pleading for him to get off the George Floyd’s neck. He decided to stay on his neck. Is that enough to count as 2nd degree murder? I don’t know but i hope so.
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Oh 100% I agree it’s murder, and I’m not trying to give the guy the benefit of the doubt. I’m just mindful that historically up until now the cops who have committed these killings have walked on the charges and would really love to see something anything stick, even if it’s not an outright murder charge.
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Black cop that killed a white woman got 12.5 years in jail. This one will get less.
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If I listen carefully, I think I can hear the VP slipping away from her (and towards Kamala?).
If Joe nominates Amy, well, you can just as well forget about mobilizing the AA vote. Please don’t fuck this up Joe.
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Don’t let anyone tell you protesting doesn’t work or solve anything. Tell anyone that says that without that video and all this protesting all of these police officers would still be on the job.
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Would it have worked without riots, though? That seems to be what spurred actual action. There were plenty of peaceful protests for Eric Gardner and it didn’t lead to any consequences for the murderer, nor did it prevent George Floyd from being killed in near-identical fashion. Those peaceful protests had literally no effect.
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