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Defense and mitigating factors are not the same thing. I think he will be found guilty, but I also think if he did in fact see a gun, that will be a mitigating factor in his sentencing that reduces the number of years he spends in jail. How many years it knocks off his sentence remains to be seen.
Once again, both the mayor and the chief of police have said that the gun is irrelevant.
They won't be on the jury, but they are indicative of what even white women and white men in the Ft Worth area think about the gun as an issue.
I've been talking about that. They have to get out of their cars and talk to the old men playing dominoes in the barbershop and the old women sitting in their lawn chairs on the porches.
And they have to not be obviously looking for a reason to arrest people when they're supposed to be making small talk.
These people are regular residents, working people, retired people, ordinary people. They just want to live peaceful lives. If they believe the police are there to help them live peaceful lives, they will be helpful in return: "You know those burglaries that have been going on lately? Well, there are some knuckleheads that aren't from around here who have been hanging around 9th and Parkway...."
Yeah I know.
The cops/sheriffs in my small southern town/larger county know and do this. Their community interaction is obvious from their facebook pages to their call logs where they note not only calls they go out on, but also instances where they instigate community contact.
Not sure what the problem is in Forth Worth. From what I am reading they seem to have a problem implementing what many police depts. already understand.
Defense and mitigating factors are not the same thing. I think he will be found guilty, but I also think if he did in fact see a gun, that will be a mitigating factor in his sentencing that reduces the number of years he spends in jail. How many years it knocks off his sentence remains to be seen.
Determining if the officer saw a gun is probably an impossibility, especially since the cop that was behind him didn’t see a gun, the body cam footage doesn’t show a gun, and his verbal commands are consistent with him NOT seeing a gun. For it to even be considered, the defense will have to establish that he did in fact see it, in her hand, pointed at him. Do you think the defense will be able to do that?
Anyway, I’ve never been involved in a capital murder case, but I have a hard time believing it would a mitigating factor, when legally, her having a gun, even if it were pointed at the window, is irrelevant.
Once again, both the mayor and the chief of police have said that the gun is irrelevant.
They won't be on the jury, but they are indicative of what even white women and white men in the Ft Worth area think about the gun as an issue.
Not sure one white woman and one white man are indicative of all the same in Ft Worth.
We'll see. Personally, I don't see the value to society of locking a man up for life assuming he with no ill intent stupidly took a life in the course of his job. Bar him from that job, lock him up for a while and pay the family from the FW coffers for their loss.
Determining if the officer saw a gun is probably an impossibility, especially since the cop that was behind him didn’t see a gun, the body cam footage doesn’t show a gun, and his verbal commands are consistent with him NOT seeing a gun. For it to even be considered, the defense will have to establish that he did in fact see it, in her hand, pointed at him. Do you think the defense will be able to do that?
Anyway, I’ve never been involved in a capital murder case, but I have a hard time believing it would a mitigating factor, when legally, her having a gun, even if it were pointed at the window, is irrelevant.
Unless something the child has to say establishes he could have seen the gun, it will boil down to the ex-officers testimony if he chooses to testify. Will that be a fact? No. The jury will have to decide if they find his testimony credible that he saw a gun if that's what he says. No way to know at this point if he will be a credible witness or not.
Not to quibble, but this isn't a capital murder case as that would mean a death penalty.
In any case a mitigating factor does not apply to guilty or innocent, it applies to how long of a sentence someone receives.
If jurors perceive that she had a right to point a gun and/or shoot but also perceive that he had a right to self defense because he was facing a homeowner shooting him, I can see them at a stalemate where they convict him of murder or manslaughter because he created the deadly situation, but then giving him a shorter sentence because they recognize he perceived he was facing a life/death situation. JMO.
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