Ahmaud Arbery trial- verdict in

[lmrich]

15 hours ago, hshibley said:

Plus the argument that he didn’t belong in that neighborhood. It was all of 1.8 miles from his home. I jog through neighborhoods other than my own all the time. 
 

I train with a running group twice a week. A couple of months back we were doing running drill around a track at 5:30 am and then for variation we we’re going to run through a well lit area of a neighborhood. There’s 1 African American in our group of about 35. He was the only one who did not feel safe running through the neighborhood and said so. It’s naive to think that he was unjustified. 

This makes so angry and so very sad. He did not feel safe running in a well lit neighborhood. I can't imagine the stress he must encounter daily. 

Glad for the verdict. So very glad they were all found guilty now on to the police force - come on! 

[Guest]

41 minutes ago, Scarlett said:

I guess there has to be a major amount of compartmentalizing.  

Yes; a criminal defense attny needs to think, “Everyone is entitled to a competent defense,” no matter if they personally *like* the client or not, think the client did the thing or not, etc. 

[lauraw4321]

38 minutes ago, Scarlett said:

I guess there has to be a major amount of compartmentalizing.  

Most criminal defense attorneys I know view their role as defending the bill of rights and ensuring that no innocent person is convicted. Our constitution is set up to provide those accused of crimes significant protections. But those protections only remain so long as an attorney stands up for them. Every time. No matter who the defendant is. I don’t think criminal defense attorneys really struggle with this. Our founders clearly were more concerned about an innocent person being convicted than they were about a guilty person going free. Their role is to protect that balance established by the constitution. 

[hshibley]

13 minutes ago, lauraw4321 said:

Most criminal defense attorneys I know view their role as defending the bill of rights and ensuring that no innocent person is convicted. Our constitution is set up to provide those accused of crimes significant protections. But those protections only remain so long as an attorney stands up for them. Every time. No matter who the defendant is. I don’t think criminal defense attorneys really struggle with this. Our founders clearly were more concerned about an innocent person being convicted than they were about a guilty person going free. Their role is to protect that balance established by the constitution. 

The defense can do that without the dog whistles. That is the only point people are making. Yes they deserve a vigorous defense, but the racist appeals are not required under that law. The lawyers were not better lawyers for going all in on racism if anything it backfired. 
 

[Guest]

3 hours ago, hshibley said:

The defense can do that without the dog whistles. That is the only point people are making. Yes they deserve a vigorous defense, but the racist appeals are not required under that law. The lawyers were not better lawyers for going all in on racism if anything it backfired. 
 

I agree that it wasn’t a necessary way to defend their clients. However, their defense obviously was meant to paint the victim as a dangerous and undesirable person so it would seem “perfectly reasonable” for the defendants to behave as they did. I think, personally, the way they did it was GROSS. And, as several have pointed out, it did not work (thank the gods). Presumably, there were at least a few jurors who saw through that and said, either to themselves or in deliberations, “What the hell point is there in saying he had ‘long, dirty toenails’? Do people deserve to be shot if their toenails are ugly?” Maybe there is hope for humanity after all. 
 

 

[Lady Florida.]

On 11/24/2021 at 2:42 PM, hshibley said:

Now the feds need to investigate the police dept and local prosecutors as to why charges were not brought against the murders until 74 days after the murder. If the family did not hire a lawyer who was able to get a copy of the video of the murder to the press we would not be seeing justice today. 

This. People keep saying justice was served. Yes it was but it almost wasn't. In fact those responsible for justice being served did all they could to prevent it. If not for that video they'd have literally gotten away with murder.