Rodney King dead

[jrtaster]

I apologize for my last post(rant). It was well off topic (Rodney King's death) and could be considered by some to be too political. Sorry if my views, which are sincere, offended anyone!

jr/john

 

[pitchfork]

Me too. I apologize for the strident political content of my recent posts. I'm right, of course, but this isn't the place to talk about foreign policy and the criminal, bi-partisan elites who run our government (not that I was the first to bring it up).

 

[bigmike]

King chose his path in life, as we all do, and it ended in death, as all ours will.
Lets get back to smoking our pipes and enjoying our preferred tobaccos while helping each other out as much as we can.
I'm surprised the thread still exists actually............

 

[judcole]

May Rodney King Rest in Peace.
May those in our military who are serving overseas return safely to their loved ones. May those who are in suffer injury - physical, emotional, or combinations thereof - serving our country be given the best of care to help them heal. And may the families of those who paid the supreme sacrifice be able to recover from their own pain.

 

[tbradsim1]

We may hate and despise some people, but remember in death everyone has a mother crying for them Tbradsim the old cajun

 

[grafikchaos]

Interesting Fact(?): his fiancee, the lady who found his body, apparently sat on the jury which ACQUITTED the LAPD officers accused of beating him. Can this possibly be true??? My recollection is the trial was moved out of LA proper and tried by an all white jury. Two of the four officers were later convicted of FEDERAL Civil Rights violations and served two years ( why this doesn't constitute Double Jeopardy scares and confuses the hell out of me).

I don't know about the lady being on the jury, but to answer your question about double jeopardy, the first trial was criminal court, to determine if the officers did indeed break the law. They were acquitted, meaning they cannot have criminal charges levied against them for the same accusation. The civil trial came after, which was brought by King and his attorneys. A civil trial doesn't measure whether or not they committed crimes against, but by what degree of guilt they had by violating his civil rights. Civil trials usually are for seeking compensatory damages, but can include having to serve jail time for violations.
Remember the O.J. trial? He was found not guilty of criminal murder, but was found guilty of the wrongful deaths of the victims in a separate civil trial. While technically he was tried for the same crime twice, they were separate actions taken against Simpson.

 

[hobie1dog]

Jason, Lawrence....lets bury this puppy. ::

 

[jrtaster]

Hi, I understand the difference between a civil trial and a criminal trial, ala OJ. My point was that two officers were tried twice CRIMINALLY, one in CA state courts ( acquited), the second time in Federal courts, "guilty."

It's not the first time it's happened; I just am sooo uncomfortable with the concept of trying someone for Federal "civil rights violations," after he's been acquited of basically the same act at the state level.

The award of nearly $4 million, as i remember it, was not against the officers involved; it resulted from King's civil suit against the city of LA, as pointed out, a civil action. In the King incident, there is no parallel to the OJ situation. OJ was the defendant in both the criminal and civil actions. Again, depending on my very faulty memory, OJ never paid a penny of the judgment in the civil action, so he skated twice. For OJ some justice came much later in a different venue.

jr/john

 

[judcole]

It's not the first time it's happened; I just am sooo uncomfortable with the concept of trying someone for Federal "civil rights violations," after he's been acquited of basically the same act at the state level.

Not the same at all. A Federal civil rights trial is going to have different requirements then "use of excessive force",which is what the state trial was about. At the time, President Bush said of the state verdict,

viewed from outside the trial, it was hard to understand how the verdict could possibly square with the video. Those civil rights leaders with whom I met were stunned. And so was I and so was Barbara and so were my kids.

 

[jrtaster]

Jud, on the issue of whether it constitutes double jeopardy, you can have the last word, friend! jr/john

 

[dervis]

May his family find peace. Does just show to me that some people are useless. You can give them infinate chances, money, fame, tolerance, but they are still just useless.

 

[judcole]

No one is useless. Rodney King was an addict. Some people are able to lick that, and good for them! Some people never can, and it kills them. Money and fame don't solve the problems that lead people to addicition.