CA - Two Fullerton PD officers accused of beating Kelly Thomas to death

[AzPistonsGirl]

got the seal - this must be the place! Quickish verdict is a good sign for the prosecution me thinks.

 

[ohiogirl]

Not guilty on everything. Unbelievable. Later all.

 

[AzPistonsGirl]

sad... not privy to every detail, but this is just a sad case no matter what...

His poor father... can't even fathom. Wow.

 

[ohiogirl]

I hope there are some federal charges coming, but I won't hold my breath.

 

[AzPistonsGirl]

now the jury will get to know some of the things they didn't during trial. Heartbreaking.

 

[Fairy1]

Jeez. Everything about this case has been disturbing so I guess this is just the latest disappointment. Will have to pray Karma will step in.....

 

[gitana1]

As some of you know, I spent weeks, every weekend, in the hot sun, protesting the beating death of poor Kelly Thomas. I'm so sick to my stomach and so sad right now. I don't know what to say. I'm trying very hard not to cry. I guess the jury felt that the job of cops is to gang up with six officers and beat a mentally ill man to death.

 

[Kaliste]

My thoughts and prayers are with Ron Thomas right now. He's been an amazing advocate for his son. So much evidence, so many pictures, a video OF the crime... This is a horrible injustice.


IMO

 

[gitana1]

This is what justice in America looks like. Turning this:

Into this:

 

[kincaid]

Sad but not surprised. Even before this there were news reports that area law enforcement were preparing for protests, perhaps they suspected the jury was going to acquit.

I will admit that after following the trial, I do think some of the media coverage was pretty one sided against the police, especially locally in LA on KFI radio.

 

[MsFacetious]

uke:

I am unfortunately not surprised... which is why I have avoided this thread.
I knew it'd get me banned to comment here. I knew there wouldn't be justice.

At least they are no longer cops. Kelly got that small measure of justice that Ethan did not.

http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?t=199420&highlight=ethan+saylor

That's about the only silver lining I find in this case. At least they aren't cops anymore. :twocents:

 

[wonders]

This is what justice in America looks like. Turning this:

Into this:

Thank you gitana1...
Once again cops (<IMO>) get away with murder. This poor mentally ill man went from looking like the first picture you have there to the last picture. How does this happen?
I watched that tape and audio many times and not one word spoken in a court room could have made my eye's and ear's deceive me. I am livid over this verdict. It was first degree murder period.

 

[wonders]

uke:

I am unfortunately not surprised... which is why I have avoided this thread.
I knew it'd get me banned to comment here. I knew there wouldn't be justice.

At least they are no longer cops. Kelly got that small measure of justice that Ethan did not.

http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?t=199420&highlight=ethan+saylor

That's about the only silver lining I find in this case. At least they aren't cops anymore. :twocents:

I don't want to rain on your parade MsFacetious but even if they can't get back on the force they were on they can go elsewhere and apply. Now whether they would get hired is beyond me but it could happen. I personally wouldn't hire them as they are a liability, but then again I would have been the reason for a mistrial in this *should have been charged with first degree murder* case, IMO.

 

[MsFacetious]

Oh I know that.
But at least they were stripped of their badges in the first place.

At least they were charged at all.
At least SOMEONE tried to send a message that this was NOT okay.

At least they didn't just say "no misconduct" and put them back on the force.
I'm a "find the silver lining" kind of person... and that's the only one I can find here. :twocents:

I don't want to rain on your parade MsFacetious but even if they can't get back on the force they were on they can go elsewhere and apply. Now whether they would get hired is beyond me but it could happen. I personally wouldn't hire them as they are a liability, but then again I would have been the reason for a mistrial in this *should have been charged with first degree murder* case, IMO.

 

[katydid23]

I am so surprised...shocked actually...that it was NG. :cry:

 

[kincaid]

I don't want to rain on your parade MsFacetious but even if they can't get back on the force they were on they can go elsewhere and apply. Now whether they would get hired is beyond me but it could happen. I personally wouldn't hire them as they are a liability, but then again I would have been the reason for a mistrial in this *should have been charged with first degree murder* case, IMO.

I don't think any police department would hire Ramos. Cicinelli is already getting a disability pension from the LAPD from shooting where he lost his eye. Chances of another police department hiring a one eyed cop are pretty low. The other 4 officers probably could work in law enforcement again. Tony Rackauckas said he wouldn't prosecute the 3rd officer, Joseph Wolfe. The three other officers involved in the beating have already been cleared of any civil rights abuses by the FBI (they arrived after Ramos started the fight and did not know that Thomas was trying to defend himself).

IMO, Rackauckas overcharged. He couldn't get 2nd degree murder, there was no chance of first degree.

 

[chlban]

This is what I predicted, but it still makes me ill. This is Jury nullificaiton, pure and simple. Just like in the old days in the deep south, where everyone on the jury knew full well what some Klan member had done to an African American citizen, but refused to convict. At the other end of that spectrum was the OJ trial, also Jury nullification.

In fact, I have said many times to many people that the OJ jury would not have convicted him if they saw him commit the murders on videotape. Well, here they had a tape of the murder being committed and still refused to convict.

Ron Thomas is right. There is nothing the cops cannot get away with, including cold blooded, premeditated murder, caught on tape. It is open season on all citizens of Orange County and probably most other places as well. This has proven what those low life cops already believe which is they are above the law.

Absolutely disqusting.

 

[kincaid]

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.

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.

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.

 

[wonders]

As some of you know, I spent weeks, every weekend, in the hot sun, protesting the beating death of poor Kelly Thomas. I'm so sick to my stomach and so sad right now. I don't know what to say. I'm trying very hard not to cry. I guess the jury felt that the job of cops is to gang up with six officers and beat a mentally ill man to death.

Please let me wrap you in ((((((((((HUGS)))))))))) cuz I know you are hurting really bad over this murder.
I still can't believe it today.

 

[wonders]

Oh I know that.
But at least they were stripped of their badges in the first place.

At least they were charged at all.
At least SOMEONE tried to send a message that this was NOT okay.

At least they didn't just say "no misconduct" and put them back on the force.
I'm a "find the silver lining" kind of person... and that's the only one I can find here. :twocents:

I'm giving ((((((((((HUGS)))))))))) to you too for having the empathy and silver cloud attitude that I am missing. Thank you.