Darren Wilson's Side of the Story

[Boreas]

Originally Posted by finnbow

Fair enough, though I feel that I'm a lot less influenced by innuendo, rumor, irrelevant facts and political ideology than some here.

Unanimity at last!

John

[sheltiedave]

I wonder why Wilson did not kill his girlfriend's boyfriend?

http://www.capitalbay.com/news/60270...s-ex-love.html

[donquixote99]

Originally Posted by finnbow

I'm less willing than you to extrapolate deeper meaning from this incident. As for the bolded comment, most would be right. Our system of justice is not set up to prosecute a class of people for the misdeeds of an individual. This was not a conspiracy (from what you described). Are you advocating for the prosecution of the whole town?

God. I hardly know where to begin.

Are you saying because it would be ghastly if 'the whole town' was complicit, we must not look and see if it is so?

Shouldn't someone have said "WTF? ALL these poor-as-hell hardscrabble black farmers and working mothers are selliing powder cocaine to the jet set of Tulia Texas? This doesn't make the tiniest bit of sense!" But no one did.

Shouldn't someone have said "WTF--this guy you arrested doesn't match the description in the incident report." But they didn't. Instead someone changed the incident report.

Shouldn't someone have said "Hey, this guy has an alibi--he can document being out of town when we say he was selling coke. We should drop this one." But they didn't.

Shouldn't someone have said "Why the hell have we raided dozens of 'drug dealers' and nobody has any drugs, any cash, any unexplained luxury assets, any evidence of drug dealing AT ALL?" But no one did.

Shouldn't someone have said "How can we convict dozens of drug dealers, passing out stiff-as-hell sentences, and we can't uncover even one up-the-chain link to suppliers?" But no one did.

But these people who failed to see the obvious and react properly are what we think of as 'good respectable citizens.' The heroic police, and the prosecutors and judges and jury members. Solid, good folk. So they can't be complicit. Can they?

And just like they couldn't see what they didn't see, we can't see that they are .

[finnbow]

Originally Posted by Boreas

Unanimity at last!

John

You believe that to be true of me as well. Thanks, John.

[sheltiedave]

DQ, I have always loved Zappa for saying the mind Is like a parachute, it only works when it is open.

If you don't seek out information, and ask questions, and don't converse with people from different walks of life, you tend to ossify.

[donquixote99]

Originally Posted by finnbow

Fair enough, though I feel that I'm a lot less influenced by innuendo, rumor, irrelevant facts and political ideology than some here.

As i was saying in this message, what you insist on disparaging may be very relevant facts indeed, given that assessing Wilson's credibility is vital to determining what one believes actually happened.

[finnbow]

Originally Posted by donquixote99

God. I hardly know where to begin.

Are you saying because it would be ghastly if 'the whole town' was complicit, we must not look and see if it is so?........

Look up the definition of the term complicit (when used in a legal context). You'll see for yourself that they were not.

I'm far less willing than you to implicate Joe and Josephine Sixpack relaxing on their couch watching the Dallas Cowboys for not having personally investigated every detail of every drug arrest in their town. Chances are they've heard of the ravages of cocaine/narcotic abuse and they supported the arrest of (what a crooked cop made to appear as) drug dealers. That doesn't make them complicit or racist. It makes them normal.

Do you dig deeply into the details of every drug arrest made in your hometown? Are you personally responsible for each and every bad cop busted in your town?

[finnbow]

Originally Posted by donquixote99

As i was saying in this message, what you insist on disparaging may be very relevant facts indeed, given that assessing Wilson's credibility is vital to determining what one believes actually happened.

Do you honestly feel that the grand jury didn't make any judgments as the relativity credibility of the 60 witnesses while weighing their testimony against the physical evidence (and their previous statements) during their 70 days reviewing this case? I don't.

[donquixote99]

Originally Posted by sheltiedave

DQ, I have always loved Zappa for saying the mind Is like a parachute, it only works when it is open.

If you don't seek out information, and ask questions, and don't converse with people from different walks of life, you tend to ossify.

Conservative and liberals each have typical strengths and weaknesses.

Conservatives have a very hard time with the 'open mind' stuff, which can lead to bad decisions in various ways. But one must note that too open a mind can make a person flighty, undisciplined, unprincipled, and/or irresponsible. Just as 'solid citizens' have no monopoly on truth, free thinkers have no monopoly on wisdom.

Our best shot is to seek the best available mixture.

[donquixote99]

Originally Posted by finnbow

Do you honestly feel that the grand jury didn't make any judgments as the relativity credibility of the 60 witnesses while weighing their testimony against the physical evidence (and their previous statements) during their 70 days reviewing this case? I don't.

I'm sure they did. I'm just pointing out that some of the info you sneer at here might, on investigation, be quite relevant to a trial jury.

And however hard the grand jury worked, and however conscientiously, they were misused, buried in testimony, and forced basically to act as a trial jury, weighing accusation and exculpation. Not having the equipment of a trial, that is, examination and cross-examination from competent advocates on both sides, with a neutral judge controlling the process, they were not in a position to do this reliably, in my opinion.

Grand juries are reliable, as much as they are at all, only when used for the limited purpose of acting as a check on over-zealous prosecutors. They have no ability at all to correct for under-zealous ones.