Posted on 10/06/2018 6:57:18 PM PDT by Olog-hai
A black man has been acquitted of all charges in the shooting death of a white man outside a bar in a case his attorney said stemmed from “ugly racism.”
Jurors deliberated for four hours Friday before acquitting Stephen Spencer of homicide, aggravated assault and terroristic threats. He was freed after 453 days in Luzerne County Correctional Center following the July 2017 shooting.
Spencer, 31, was accused of killing Christopher Williams, 32, in a confrontation outside the Pittston bar in July 2017 after another man refused to shake his hand because of Spencer’s race following a dispute over a game of pool. Spencer had testified that he fired in self-defense as a group of would-be attackers came at him outside.
The handshake refusal “may and should offend some of you,” prosecutor Brittany Quinn had told jurors during opening statements, but she told the mostly white panel that the killing had “nothing to do with” the earlier dispute.
Prosecutor Tom Hogans said during closing arguments that Spencer had the opportunity — and the duty — to retreat rather than pull his gun. …
(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.com ...
Riots by angry whites start in 3..2..1..never.
Never mind the naked bias displayed by the AP here.
“Spencer had testified that he fired in self-defense as a group of would-be attackers came at him outside.”
Stand Your Ground Defense.
And jury wanted to go home on Friday afternoon.
The article is very sparse on details. But the comment of “intentionally shooting him in a vital part of his body” as some indication of wrongdoing by the prosecuting attorney is just silly.
The question is, do you fear for your life? If so, you shoot to kill. Period. If you don’t fear for your life, you should not have unholstered your weapon.
They don’t give any details about the circumstances that led him to shoot his gun other than “a group of would-be attackers came at him outside”. I need to know more about that.
I have a suspicion that a white defendant might not get the same consideration. I would like to know more about what happened leading up to the fired shot.
And four hours of deliberation?
Maybe I am missing something here. Did he blow the white dude away, because there was a big group waiting for him, or did he blow the white dude away, because he was racially offended?
Testimony pointed to racial tension in the bar that night — Spencer is a black man — and one witness said she heard a racial slur being shouted.
That same witness said when she went to Christopher’s aid after he was shot, Spencer pointed a gun at her face.
Marty Williams, 32, of Pittston, testified he was with cousin Christopher at the bar when he declined to shake Spencer’s hand, which witnesses said was the origin of the dispute.
Marty testified he was then approached by another man with Spencer, who asked why Marty declined the handshake.
“I don’t socialize with anybody not my race,” Marty said in court.
While Marty described the encounter as calm, his girlfriend, Alaena Swingle, told a different story.
Swingle, 34, testified Spencer actually stood closely to her before the handshake incident occurred. A friend of hers had to tell Spencer to move.
Swingle also said Spencer’s friend appeared angry when he confronted Marty about the handshake rejection.
And while Marty testified there were no harsh words or racial slurs heard in the bar, Swingle again told a different story.
She testified she heard a racial slur being yelled by someone in the bar before Spencer initially got closer to her. When asked by defense attorney John Pike if Christopher had at one point claimed to be a member of the Ku Klux Klan, both Marty and Swingle denied it.
Marty and Swingle also denied Spencer was ever harassed, blocked from leaving the bar, or followed when he left the bar.
Marty, Christopher, and Swingle attempted to leave for the evening with Christoper walking slightly ahead of them when he was shot, according to police. Ptlm. Samuel DeSimone of the Pittston City Police Department learned during the course of the investigation that Christopher, Marty, and Swingle exited the bar’s “Saints” exit, while Spencer and a man he was with left through the bar’s “Sinners” exit.
Simone added that while the Center Street bar has a video surveillance system, it was not functioning that night.
Marty and Swingle each testified hearing a popping noise, then seeing Christopher drop to the ground.
“It looked like somebody just picked him up and just dropped him,” Swingle said.
Marty said his cousin told him he couldn’t breathe, and asked for an ambulance.
Swingle held Christopher and said she tried talking to him to keep him awake. She testified when she looked up, she saw Spencer pointing the gun at her face. She said Spencer then yelled at her to leave him alone, or that he would shoot her.
Christopher was transported to Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center, where he succumbed to his injuries. DeSimone said the cause of death was a single gunshot wound to the chest.
See the excerpt right above. Reading the AP article makes it sound like a crowd pursued him. In reality, it was three people, and I am not convinced the guy was “pursued”.
It sounds like the guy who was shot may have been following the guy out followed by his cousin, another guy and his girlfriend right behind.
Not a “crowd”, IMO.
On the surface, it appears that refusing a handshake by someone of color is cause for justifiable homicide.
There are other motivations to use a deadly weapon besides fear for one’s life, of course.
So the prosecution’s case was the t the victim was murdered while leaving the bar for refusing to shake hands with the accused.
Ok. Entrance wound solves the case. Front or back?
This is what it sounds like to me:
The two black guys walked out one door. The group of four walked out the other door, with the now deceased walking in front of the other three (his cousin, a friend, and the friend’s girlfriend)
They exited the door to the outside, they heard a “popping noise” and saw the now-deceased drop to the ground.
Doesn’t sound like stand your ground or self-defense to me. Sounds like murder.
I fired a warning shot through his liver, sir!
That is true, but this certainly doesn’t sound like a valid use to me. Of course, I wasn’t there, and the details are sketchy...but the non-AP article gives more detailed info.
I pay attention to these things, not for the racial aspect, but for the various things that may come up when you are called on to defend yourself. Not to say it will help if you ever have to, but I think it is clearly better to think some things through, rather than never have given it much thought in advance.
I think it is clear (even though it doesn’t specify) that the entrance wound is in the front, his friends were behind him and saw him fall in front of them.
All humor aside, shooting someone in a “vital part” in the torso is a weird accusation from a prosecuting attorney. Not going to shoot for the head (for most people you go for the torso, right?)
I mean, shooting through the heart would be a vital part, but most people wouldn’t aim for the heart, they would just be trying hit the person anywhere they could and consider themselves lucky to have made a torso shot that hit. (Most of us aren’t Special Forces people!)
I suppose the best thing would be a non-fatal torso shot to incapacitate the person if they aren’t actually coming at you with a weapon (which would be different...you WOULD want the person to go down for good so they can’t continue to attack you if they had a gun or a knife) in which case you wouldn’t have a dead body and police action might be different.
I don’t have any experience at this, but I do think about it. I don’t think it is a bad idea...not that it will certainly help in a crisis, but I would rather consider it in advance rather than doing it on the fly.
On the surface, that is exactly what it looks like. It’s real convenient that the camera was not working, or maybe they wiped it clean, like the Hildebeast did. Again, on the surface, it stinks to high heaven.
I know. I don’t like the sound of it. It sounds like the guy walked out the door, the other guy saw him coming out, and pulled his gun and fired.
I think the vast majority of people would go to jail for that, and it sounds like they made it a completely racial thing.
It does stink to me too.
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