kincaid;10129940]I don't agree that this was jury nullification. There's more to the trial than just the video. There was obviously abuse of force, but there's also Kelly Thomas refusing to comply with the police officer's instructions. I think many of the law and order types in OC have a problem with the idea that Kelly Thomas had a right to defend himself against abuse of force when the defense is saying if Thomas had cooperated, he wouldn't have died. The fact Thomas had a criminal record including assault with a deadly weapon and his parents had taken out restraining orders against him didn't help the prosecutors.
Completely irrelevent. You don't get to beat someone to death based on what they did in the past. The restraining orders had no relevence to this case.
I
.don't believe this was premeditated. Certainly the police were jerks intentionally harassing Thomas, probably intending of rid of an annoying homeless person from the area. Police had 90+ encounters with Kelly Thomas, Fullerton police knew who he was, local businesses probably didn't want him hanging around. This all started with someone at a club calling police about someone breaking into cars, which might have been a lie just to get police out there
It was a lie the person who reported has admitted he lied but says he was instructed to do so by his employer. However, that too is irrelevent. Even if he had been breaking into cars I don't think the punishment for that is death.
IMO, all the officers should have faced jail time for abuse of force. Saying it was murder doomed the case. It was a complicated case, it took the judge an hour to read the jury instructions. If any of the jury is ever interviewed, I really expect them to say they wanted to convict but couldn't. They had to follow the law, not just watch the video and send the officers to jail
They murdered Kelly Thomas. The charge was appropriate. I live here in Orange County. I know the mindset of many of these wingnuts. Cops, good. Homeless, Bad. White good, minorities Bad. Rich good, working class or worse, poor really bad.
It is not a compassionate county. Sure there are exceptions and I will say that I have seen even some of my most conservative friends and associates disgusted with the verdict. But there is always that element. "He did not do exactly what the cops asked him to do". Well, guess what, this is not supposed to be a Police State. If you don't do what the police tell you they may have the right to subdue you. But, unless they are in fear for their lives, or protecting the lives of others, they do not have the right to KILL THE SUSPECT. Perod.
WTF is so hard for the police apologists to get about that? This was murder and the bigoted jury rubber stamped it. As far as I am concerned they are almost as bad as the cops. Not quite, but pretty damn bad.