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The rush to judgement based on a single video is disgusting.

I might agree with you but for the reality that as the cop was finishing emptying his clip into the guy, the soon to be dead guy was, what, 15-20 years away with his back turned to the cop.

The video shows no evidence of premeditation

Agreed.

Rightly or wrongly, a non-police officer shooting someone after an altercation is generally not going to get the death penalty. Cops shouldn't be held to lower standards, of course; but they shouldn't be held to higher ones, either.

Agree that the cop will not get the death penalty. Quite disagree with the notion that a sworn officer of the law should not be held to a higher standard. I don't think we should hold them to the same standard as a murderer in the drug trade. JMO.

Throughout most of history, fleeing from the police has been a good way to get yourself killed. He may not have deserved death, but he was an idiot.

Thanks for your opinion.

It doesn't look good for the cop at all

Choices are a bitch, aren't they?

Quite disagree with the notion that a sworn officer of the law should not be held to a higher standard.

The problem is that, increasingly, cops are being judged in the court of public opinion, to a substantially lower level of evidentiary standards than that enjoyed by the criminals that they have to deal with on a daily basis. While it is true that it is vital that the police be held to the standard of the law, and while it is equally true that the gravest societal damage done by rogue or crooked cops is to other cops, if there is one group of individuals who have earned the right to due process, it is the police.

As I said, increasingly, they are denied such process. Had the evidence not overwhelmingly supported the account of Officer Wilson, he would never have found a fair trial. He would soon to be in jail, or dead, because people are so willing to believe that the cops are in the wrong (in fact, not just willing to believe, but almost expectant). Even here on FR, where you would expect more in the way of patience, fairness, and a recognition that evidence is often misleading, many were already leaning towards his guilt.

If this most recent cop killed with premeditation, or any other qualification that triggers the death penalty, he should hang. If he killed without any justification, in the heat of the moment, then he should certainly be punished to the same extent of the law that others would be, in a similar situation. If he did either, than he is a disgrace to his uniform, and no better than the criminals which the police are tasked with keeping away from the law abiding. But there are often grey areas, areas which don't show up well in a videotape. And, as I said, if there is any group of people deserving of due process, it the the police.

The reaction of the public, and even here on FR, is disgusting. Many think that due process consists solely of "well I can't think of a reason that justifies what I see on tape, therefore he should fry." If we cannot depend on conservatives to uphold the integrity of the process, then what hope is there? A cop (or any first responder, or anyone in the military, or anyone who voluntarily assumes a profession that personally endangers themselves in order to shield the rest of us) doesn't just deserve the protection of a calm, objective process, when "things look good". They deserve that protection especially when things look bad.