Shot in the Dark

A Little Concerning

One of the alternate jurors from the Chauvin trial admits the flamingly obvious (in an interview with KARE11’s Lou Raguse):

Raguse: Did you want to be a juror?

Christensen: I had mixed feelings. There was a question on the questionnaire about it and I put I did not know. The reason, at that time, was I did not know what the outcome was going to be, so I felt like either way you are going to disappoint one group or the other. I did not want to go through rioting and destruction again and I was concerned about people coming to my house if they were not happy with the verdict.

So there’s your evidence that, by accident or design or pure social fact, the jury’s attitude was affected by the, er, social disruption of the past year.

I’m not going to say “It’d have been utterly impossible for Chauvin to get a fair trial under those circumstances”.

I’m going to say we can see that state from here.

Posted

in

,

by

Mitch Berg

Tags:

Comments

34 responses to “A Little Concerning”

  1. Dr. Pete Strunk Avatar
    Dr. Pete Strunk

    There is a tic toc post floating around, supposidly by one of the jurors; she is a millennial Potato Head.

    She says “I hope I did the right thing”

    That doesn’t sound like someone withoutbreasonable doubt.

  2. Emery Avatar
    Emery

    I would like to commend this alternate juror for taking her job seriously and reaching her conclusion based on the facts of the case. There were so many “what if’s” thrown out by the defense that I also commend the judge for emphasizing that a reasonable doubt has to be reasonable and based on some evidence.

  3. John Kraephammer Avatar
    John Kraephammer

    I do actually think Mitch’s observation constitutes evidence of what he says it does, that the jury had a great instinct to be a pro forma validation of the prosecution’s case.

    But ya know, ’embrace the healing power of ‘and’.”  There was a great argument for his guilt, and the defense had a weak counter.

  4. Dr. Pete Strunk Avatar
    Dr. Pete Strunk

    Kraphammer, a juror is on record as having considered the reaction of the mob waiting outside on her deliberations. We have to conclude all the rest had the same concerns. Put yourself in his shoes…better yet, what if it was one of your kids facing this kind of trial by mob.

    That the defense lawyer was pathetic cannot be dismissed, but a tainted jury is an automatic reason to throw out the conviction on appeal.

  5. Dr. Pete Strunk Avatar
    Dr. Pete Strunk

    Geeze, the mod bot is out for blood this morning/

  6. Maximum Overlord Avatar
    Maximum Overlord

    You will never see an end to racial strife in Minneapolis until you address the problem of insane activists.

    Smith described her life and those of other Black Americans as constantly being dragged down by forces of racism that pervade all areas of their lives, from education to housing and the criminal justice system, to the subtle and not-so-subtle attacks that come from individual interactions with people.
    https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/after-the-chauvin-verdict-minneapolis-activists-fuel-up-and-prepare-for-the-long-fight-ahead/ar-BB1g2riK?ocid=msedgntp

  7. Dr. Pete Strunk Avatar
    Dr. Pete Strunk

    The media narrative is porous as cheese cloth; it’s not holding water. White people are getting fed up with uncivilized, ungrateful blacks. You can see and hear it everywhere.

    Blacks are being manipulated, as always, be scheming, White reprobate leftists for their own purposes. Many are becoming aware of the irrefutable fact, and starting to speak out. I wish them well, and hope their less intelligent ilk get the message before they reap what they’re sowing.

  8. Dr. Pete Strunk Avatar
    Dr. Pete Strunk

    The reprobates are parading a poll around that purports to prove 75% of Americans approve of the lynching of Chauvin.

    CBS has it front and center.

    “CBS News poll: Widespread agreement with Chauvin verdict”

    This is a “YouGov” poll commissioned by CBS. YouGov is an online polling service people sign up to participate in, and get paid for. I cannot think of a more bullshit way to gather opinions. But I do credit them for at least identifying their crappy pollsters rather than pull some NBC manipulation BS.

  9. Dr. Pete Strunk Avatar
    Dr. Pete Strunk

    BTW, “YouGov” is the favorite polling service of the Washington Post and Bloomberg…nuff said.

  10. Night Writer Avatar
    Night Writer

    Another airport brawl over the weekend, this one in Miami. I say “another” because this seems to be a thing now (Google “airport brawls 2020”). I searched it out because the latest incident reminded me of other videos I’ve seen, and I wanted to see if previous brawls have offered more diversity.

    They’ve happened in Miami a couple of times, in Fort Lauderdale, in Detroit and in San Juan, and feature punching, kicking and stomping. I know air travel is stressful, and likely even more so during the pandemic, but why do all the videos of brawls involve groups of black people (mostly female!) attacking other black people? Do white brawls not get videotaped? In the half-dozen videos I looked at again, I saw one white guy handcuffed. I know I’ve seen plenty of angry, even threatening, white folks in airports, but never multiple people in a knock-down, drag-out. Is this a new reality in air travel, or simply we’re more aware of it because of the proliferation of video phones?

    (Another thing you’ll notice is that most seem to involve Spirit Airlines, a low-cost carrier. Man, I’d hate work for Spirit, let alone fly with them.)

  11. Emery Avatar
    Emery

    Elizabeth City, North Carolina, has declared a state of emergency ahead of the release of body camera footage of the law enforcement killing of Andrew Brown Jr. last week.
    Brown’s family is expected to view the footage Monday.

    The mayor said law enforcement expects a “period of civil unrest” after the footage is released.
    https://www.wavy.com/news/north-carolina/elizabeth-city-declares-state-of-emergency-ahead-of-release-of-body-camera-footage-of-law-enforcement-killing-of-andrew-brown-jr/

    They expect civil unrest— body cam video must be really bad.

  12. Dr. Pete Strunk Avatar
    Dr. Pete Strunk

    I saw that NW. It’s just low IQ blacks being low IQ blacks. Seems like the women are more violent than the men…especially among themselves. Are you aware of the plague of black women losing their shit in fast food joints? Recently, one special little lady stuck her head into the drive up window and started shooting at the cooks.

    I digress….

    There was a time when air travel was a real treat. People used to dress in their finest clothing. Stewardesses would greet passengers, and make them comfortable; kids got special considerations. It was the high point of Western civilization.

    Now that air travel has become a public transit system, flying is like riding a Somali dog cart. You are constantly in the company of absolute human trash, and are treated like trash by everyone involved in getting you airborne. I have grown to loath it.

    I have been a Gold or Platinum perks member with Northwest, then Delta, then when Delta said they didn’t want to do business with the NRA, with American Airlines.

    Since the bat flu Dempanic, I have not flown at all. I refuse to wear a face diaper, and because routes have been scaled way back I couldn’t get a flight if I wanted to. So I’ve put at least 20,000 miles on rental cars this year and last. I’ve been Executive Elite with National for many years, so I can get a luxury car for the price of a standard. I have gotten used to it, and I really think my flying days are over.

    One more piece of civilization sacrificed for profit and vibrancy.

  13. Dr. Pete Strunk Avatar
    Dr. Pete Strunk

    Mitch, your mod bot is red hot. I’ve got at least 3 comments in the queue so far today.

  14. bosshoss429 Avatar
    bosshoss429

    Night Writer;
    Good observation, re Spirit Airlines.
    Ever hear of the Mega Bus? They set up motor coach routes between many high traffic destinations, like Minneapolis-Milwaukee-Chicago. Bus left Minneapolis at 7:00 a.m., stopped then made the return trip at 3:00 p.m. People that booked early, could get fares as low as $10 each way. My daughter used to take it to visit us and in fact, I even used it a couple of times. I can’t count the number of spats that happened between black women at the terminals, rest stops and on the bus that both of us witnessed. I gotta give a couple of the drivers, that happened to be large black men, credit for enforcement of order. They threatened to leave them at the next stops until the next bus came. Funny! That did the trick most of the time.

  15. Night Writer Avatar
    Night Writer

    Boss, my daughter and her boyfriend took the MegaBus to Chicago to visit another friend. It was a “once in a lifetime” – as in “never again” – experience.

  16. Dr. Pete Strunk Avatar
    Dr. Pete Strunk

    Now flying budget airlines is as cheap as Megabus, former bus riders are now waiting at the gate, and are carrying on the same behaviors…imagine that.

  17. Emery Avatar
    Emery

    Alaska lawmaker blasted airline for ‘mask tyranny.’ Now she’s banned from the only flights to the capital.
    https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/airline-news/2021/04/26/alaska-airlines-lora-reinbold-ban-airline-bans-lawmaker-over-masks/7380651002/

    Well, that should solve the problem of the 14 hour car ride then.

  18. Dr. Pete Strunk Avatar
    Dr. Pete Strunk

    Next time the airlines near bankruptcy, and with skyrocketing fuel costs and declining passengers, you know it’s coming, I hope everyone contacts their congress creeps to see if any have the moral fortitude to make sure they do not get $.01 of tax money.

    Most will not, but enough might.

  19. Joe Doakes Avatar
    Joe Doakes

    Munich lawmaker blasted train line for ‘yellow star tyranny.’ Now he’s banned from the only trains to the capital. Well, that should solve the problem of the 14 hour car ride then.

    And Emery is all on board with it.

  20. Joe Doakes Avatar
    Joe Doakes

    Black lawmaker blasted bus line for ‘black face tyranny.’ Now he’s banned from the only bus to the capital. Well, that should solve the problem of the 14 block bus ride then.

    And Emery is all aboard with it.

  21. Maximum Overlord Avatar
    Maximum Overlord

    They got bush pilots, don’t they?
    It was a really stupid, snarky article.
    Ask yourself: what was the purpose of the article? Why did the publisher choose to make it a national news story?

  22. Dr. Pete Strunk Avatar
    Dr. Pete Strunk

    Why did the publisher choose to make it a national news story?

    How else are 85 IQ nitwits going to get fodder to spread around the web?

  23. Emery Avatar
    Emery

    They buried the best tidbit at the very end of the article:

    “Alaska Airlines is the only airline with scheduled service from Anchorage to Juneau, so she has no way to get to the legislature unless she takes a days-long ferry ride.“

  24. bikebubba Avatar
    bikebubba

    They expect civil unrest— body cam video must be really bad.

    Emery, we’ve got civil unrest in Columbus because an officer shot a young lady who was trying to fillet and disembowel another young lady. Fear of civil unrest doesn’t mean the video is bad, it means we’re at the point where in many cities, the police can’t do anything right if an African-American is involved.

  25. Emery Avatar
    Emery

    BB: I agree — Activists apparently believe the police officer should have shot the knife out of her hands.

    The security video from across the street shows a number of details that can’t be discerned from the bodycam. People should see it before commenting. Clearest version of the clip I could find is:
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9500075/MaKhia-Bryants-neighbor-says-security-camera-footage-shows-cop-no-choice-shoot-her.html

    The scene appears relatively calm, physically at least, as Reardon arrives and walks toward the group in the driveway. The girl in pink appears to address him, telling him something. Then, to his right, Ma’Khia charges another girl, knocking her to the ground and threatening her with the knife. Reardon steps over quickly and tries to grab Ma’Khia, to keep her from stabbing the girl on the ground. She ducks under and away from him and attacks the girl in pink, driving her back against the car parked in the driveway. Reardon draws his gun, pauses a split second as both girls would be in the line of fire. Then Ma’Khia pulls her arm back, apparently preparing to slash with the knife, the girl in pink turns away defensively, and that clears her just enough from the line of fire as Reardon shoots several rapid shots.

    The two salient points I take from this is that 1) Reardon did try to restrain Ma’khia manually first, before drawing his gun, 2) She got away from him and at the girl in pink so quickly, he could not have gotten to her and tried to grab her again before she completed the impending strike with the knife.

    The whole incident seems surreal and inexplicable. It’s certainly tragic one way or another, but it appears to be quite unlike the Chauvin case, or even the shooting of Daunte Wright.

  26. Maximum Overlord Avatar
    Maximum Overlord

    Emery, see my 12:51. You need to remember that journalists are really stupid.

  27. bikebubba Avatar
    bikebubba

    As I re-watch that video, it strikes me that most of the time, from the officer’s point of view, the knife has a pink jumpsuit behind it. Thank God the police officer had clearer thinking than that, and shame on Ohio State students for joining the protests. How many more innocent black people would be dying if these idiots had their way.

    Back to the point, though, the case with Ma’Khia Bryant shows that you cannot assume the tape was bad just because people fear riots. That’s just how the ball rolls today.

  28. Dr. Pete Strunk Avatar
    Dr. Pete Strunk

    “The two salient points I take from this is…”

    Add criminology to Potato Head’s CV.

    Jezuz.

  29. Maximum Overlord Avatar
    Maximum Overlord

    Suppose MN passes a “stand your ground” law.
    What do you think will happen the first time a white guy uses it as a defense for killing a black guy?

  30. Night Writer Avatar
    Night Writer

    MO, if it’s anything like the local case where the white guy with a permit killed a black guy after a fender-bender, I’d guess they’ll just keep trying him until they get the right verdict.

  31. John Kraephammer Avatar
    John Kraephammer

    ^ They had a hung jury for the first trial, which is a not a verdict. So they did have a subsequent trial to actually get a verdict.

    That one doesn’t have much appearance of being a prosecution that speaks to the county attorney’s office having an anti-gun agenda. It is what it is.

  32. Maximum Overlord Avatar
    Maximum Overlord

    Leaving the issue of race to one side, if in Minneapolis the police aren’t allowed to protect you, and you aren’t allowed to to protect yourself, all that is left to do is move or live in in fear.

  33. bikebubba Avatar
    bikebubba

    JK, there are two cases like that which NW mentions. The first, that of Weiss in Rochester, was dismissed after two mistrials–if you can’t get the jury to agree after two trials, then you ought to admit your evidence is not that good, no?

    I don’t know where the second one is going, but same basic principle applies. If the evidence isn’t compelling enough to convince a jury, then continuing to try the case until you get a verdict simply abuses the accused, and it also falls afoul of the Constitutional right to a speedy trial.

  34. John Kraephammer Avatar
    John Kraephammer

    I figured we were talking the recent case in St. Paul. Second trial found him guilty. It has some appearance of the guy shooting the black guy dead before any assault was actually committed

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.