Posted on 10/12/2007 11:45:13 AM PDT by governsleastgovernsbest
Reacting to the not-guilty verdicts in the Florida boot camp case involving the death of a 14-year old African-American boy, CNN anchor Don Lemon found the result "surprising." And both he and CNN reporter Susan Candiotti made clear that they bought into the prosecution's portrayal of the videotape of the incident.
Just before the verdicts came down, there was this exchange [emphasis added].
DON LEMON: How much of a role did this tape play into [sic] this trial?
SUSAN CANDIOTTI: Oh huge. This is the main evidence, isn't it? And as one of the prosecutors said, "there might not be sound on this tape, but it is screaming at you, 'why didn't someone do something?'"
View video here.
Note that by stating "as one of the prosectors said," Candiotti was adopting the prosecutor's argument as her own. After the verdicts were announced, Lemon made clear that he too bought into the prosecutor's version.
LEMON: All of them acquitted. And all of them found "not guilty." Surprising, Susan . . . If you look at this, I mean it's, ah, the tape is quite disturbing, and as you said, you can't hear, there's no sound on the tape, but it just sort of screams at you.Lemon went on to suggest that the jurors' race might explain the verdict.
LEMON: Earlier, when I asked you about the racial component, I think the only racial component in this was that the jury was all-white, mostly white in this case, and they [who?] were concerned that the jury may not have, you know, I guess, been compliant [sic] or what have you to a black teenager in all this and they would necessarily find these guards not guilty. And there was some controversy about that.Oh, so that's "the only racial component". Just that white jurors wouldn't be "compliant" [sympathetic?] to a black teenager and as a result would "necessarily" acquit the guards. Glad Lemon cleared that up.
Oh c’mon...
The kid collapsed...they had to frickin hold him up to hit him..
The video speaks for itself...
Nine cops against a limp kid...
you can clearly see his knees buckle and the cops litterally pick him up and continue...
and then they keep working him over on the ground...
Murder?...maybe not....
Involuntary manslaughter?....oh yeah...
He died after being in a coma....as a direct result of the actions of the officers...
If any other group of people had done this...people would be screaming murder...
But it was cops....has to be ok...
This is one time I’d support a full investigation by the DOJ...
The sentence for being unruly is NOT death.
Word.
Look whats come out of California. Probably a lot of looting in Florida tonight,sorry I meant peaceful protesting.
“Dont mean to sound like Sharptons bartender, but if the kid had been white someone would have gone to jail. Its as simple as that. No, I cant prove it, but I believe it nonetheless.”
I don’t agree. There were black people among the defendants.
They held him up, thats true. What did they do to cause his death? I don’t see any kicking, beating or physical abuse. I have been critical of police many times but don’t see anything in the video that would lead me to believe they killed him through physical abuse.
I don’t see any one being beaten in that video. what frickin video are you talking about?
http://www.nospank.net/7163793.200k.wmv
Must have you lib glasses on...take them off...
the whole vid is around 8 minutes..
knee shots...punches...chokes...all right here..
watch the kids knees buckle.....watch him go limp...
watch it continue...
Oh...he must have been faking...
What you saw wasnt the whole video...I posted the whole thing...around 8 minutes long...
First place I could find it...
The DBM sounds like they want riots on this verdict...
That's his idea of a sentence?
It is not about the defendants, it was about the jury. I believe they saw the victim as someone outside of themselves, someone outside of them rather than a kid that could have easily have been one of their own children. I find it ironic that they likely did not consider the race of the defendants at all. It was the race of the victim that led to this verdict.
THe media are in the business of inciting racial hatred.
If the kid had been white, he would almost certainly not have had sickle cell trait (SCT). Those who do, like this boy, have a high risk of death from exertion.
The jury probably felt that, given the presence of SCT, this death could not be attributed to the guards beyond a reasonable doubt.
Bingo. I don’t monitor Lemon closely, but whenever I do catch him I get the sense that he’s in over his head.
‘I find it ironic that they likely did not consider the race of the defendants at all. It was the race of the victim that led to this verdict.”
I find it highly unlikely they didnt consider the race of both the victim and defendants. I don’t see them saying “Oh he’s black so he deserved it” thats hogwash IMO.
The common perception is that only white people (specfically men) are racist. And that is a flat out misconception.
You have no way of knowing that. You sound to me like you are black, with a lot of the black man's "blame whitey syndrome" for everything that happens to any black. I haven't seen the tape, I haven't followed the case, and I will hold judgement until I read more about it and see the tape, but for you to say, without a doubt, that it was race that drove this aquittal is just BS.
I’m white..and I’m sayin it...wanna try and discount that?
I’ll go one father....if he would have been a white kid...you’d be upset too...
PANAMA CITY, Fla. (AP) - A teenager who was beaten by guards in a state-run boot camp for juvenile delinquents died from internal bleeding caused by a blood disorder, not from injuries he may have suffered in the beating, a medical examiner reported Thursday.
Martin Lee Anderson suffered from sickle cell trait, which caused his red blood cells to change shape and produce “a whole cascade of events that led to bleeding and hemorrhaging,” said Bay County Medical Examiner Dr. Charles Siebert.
“It was a natural death,” he said.
Medical forms filed at the boot camp did not indicate that the youth or his family were aware of the disorder, which affects about one of every eight black people, Siebert said. The sickle cell disorder would not show up in routine blood tests, he said.
Anderson entered the camp Jan. 5 because of an arrest for theft. He complained of breathing difficulties and collapsed during exercises that were part of the entry process. He died the next day at a Pensacola hospital.
The sheriff’s office, which runs the camp, said Anderson became uncooperative and was restrained. The boy’s mother alleges he was murdered by guards who beat him to death.
Siebert said there were some bruises and abrasions on the boy’s body, but he attributed those to attempts to resuscitate the youth.
The Anderson family’s attorney, Benjamin Crump, was skeptical of the autopsy results and expressed doubt that the sickle cell trait, if it existed, could cause such extensive damage to the teenager’s internal organs.
Also Thursday, the Justice Department announced it would investigate the case, along with the FBI. Federal officials planned to focus on whether camp guards violated Anderson’s rights through use of excessive force or “indifference to serious medical need,” U.S. Attorney Gregory R. Miller said.
On Friday, law enforcement officials planned to make public a videotape that allegedly shows guards beating Anderson. News organizations filed a lawsuit seeking the video.
Copyright 2004 The Associated Press.
bullshit.
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