Posted on 05/12/2020 4:21:17 AM PDT by Kaslin
The tragic back road shooting of an unarmed black man by a former white police officer and his shotgun-wielding son in Brunswick, Georgia, has given the left a narrative they’re all too happy to run with, especially since blatant examples have been few and far between of late. Indeed, comparisons to Trayvon Martin abounded on Twitter by people ironically ignoring the fact that their “proof” that America is some sort of Klan-infested racist hotbed full of bigots just waiting to gun down hapless runners for the “crime” of “jogging while black” happened over eight years ago, in 2012, and was “justified,” according to one juror.
This story, however, seems on the surface to be an entirely different thing. I’m not going to speculate too much this early in the process, but I will say that it’s hard to imagine any reasonable person taking weapons and following anyone of any color down the street, much less blocking a road and trying to initiate a “citizens arrest.” It was dumb, it was unjustified, and Greg and Travis McMichael should feel the full weight of the law.
But there’s a difference between stupidly gunning-up and taking matters into your own hands because you believe a person may be a criminal, thus ending up in a deadly scuffle of your own making, and gunning-up to hunt down and murder a black man simply for being black. Both will land you in prison, of course, but with different sentences—sentences a jury will decide.
Meanwhile, however, the ‘jury’ of American public opinion seems to be leaning heavily in favor of the version that puts America firmly in an era where lynchings were the norm and these men as no different from those evil vigilantes of old or even the racist scumbags who drug James Byrd to his grisly death in 1998.
While plenty of people on both sides rightly called for justice for Ahmaud Arbery for weeks, especially in light of the fact that the shooting happened in February and there were odd conflicts of interest at play in the local district attorney’s office, a good percentage of comments bordered on inflammatory, if not patently absurd.
“We’re literally hunted EVERYDAY/EVERYTIME we step foot outside the comfort of our homes!” NBA legend LeBron James tweeted from the comfortable quarantine of his luxurious mansion while being adored by literally every man, woman, and child in America. “Can’t even go for a damn jog man! Like WTF man are you kidding me?!?!?!?!?!?”
“This young man was jogging, and was hunted down and killed for absolutely no reason other than the color of his skin,” wrote a smugly certain Ellen DeGeneres.
Kentucky State Rep. Charles Booker demanded “hate crime legislation,” while attorney and former Obama-era official Walter Scaub called the shooting a “lynching.” CNN host Don Lemon said that “communities of color feel like we are under siege.” Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms even tried to tie the shooting to President Trump.
The irresponsible comparisons weren’t limited to the left. Conservative writer David French wrote, “While we don’t yet know the full details about the McMichaels’ motives, their actions speak loudly enough. When white men grab guns and mount up to pursue and seize an unarmed black man in the street, they stand in the shoes of lynch mobs past.” And Republican Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp is now virtue-signaling his willingness to sign hate crimes legislation in the state.
Meanwhile, as conservative activist Candace Owens noted over the weekend, the narrative around Arbery’s actions has quietly gone from “just a jogger” to “just a trespasser.” That’s because Daily Mail published a previously unreleased surveillance video of a khaki-short-clad Arbery spending almost five minutes “appearing to loiter” inside an under-construction home. Obviously, loitering at a construction zone isn’t worthy of being shot or even confronted by weapon-wielding citizens, but it’s also hardly racist to be suspicious of a stranger in one’s neighborhood poking around where they aren’t supposed to be. Add Arbery’s own 2013 indictment for allegedly bringing a weapon to a high school basketball game and a 2018 arrest for shoplifting to the mix, and the caricature of ‘just a jogger’ is called into question.
Are black people being routinely gunned down in America for the “crime” of being black? Hardly. Such a dire pattern would doubtless dominate the news cycle daily, as this solitary case has and will continue to do for the foreseeable future. In fact, far more whites are actually killed and violently victimized by blacks than the other way around, and in higher percentages related to the overall population groups. According to Bureau of Justice Statistics for 2018, of the 563,940 violent incidents against blacks committed that year, only 10.6% (or ~60,000) were committed by whites. On the other hand, 15.3% (or ~548,000) of the 3,581,360 crimes committed against whites were perpetrated by black offenders. Further, according to BLS, “The offender-to-victim ratio shows that the percentage of violent incidents involving black offenders (22%) was twice the percentage of incidents committed against black victims (11%).” Blacks even comprise 24% of hate crime offenders, almost twice their representation among the population.
None of this should justify any sort of racism, nor should it imply that most blacks are criminals. In fact, the vast majority of people of all races are law-abiding. However, these facts definitely do a lot of damage to a certain preferred leftist narrative, which is one reason why you might not have ever heard them.
Back to the Arbery shooting, Candace Owens nailed what the topic of discussion should be centered around right now in an America less hyper-focused on racial politics: “The national debate SHOULD have been about the legitimacy of citizen’s arrests in light of a tragic outcome,” she wrote. “Instead, we went with BLACKS ARE LITERALLY BEING HUNTED WHEN THEY STEP OUT OF THEIR HOMES FOR NO REASON. Race-baiting ALWAYS leaves us looking emotional & foolish.”
No matter how you slice it, a man is dead who should be alive right now. But ironically, decades-removed from an era when alleged black offenders would rarely get a fair trial, the McMichaels’ chances, no matter what the facts turn out to be, of any outcome short of life without parole or even the death penalty in this highly politicized and racially charged case is next to nil.
The case is currently on its fourth DA. The GBI was requested by Durden the third DA.
“Durden states he will present all evidence of case to grand jury and seek to charge the McMichaels.
Merrit, the Arbery families attorney, says there is no need to wait for a grand jury and the McMichaels should be arrested immediately.
Durden turns case over to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
May 7- GBI arrest the McMichaels.”
Gregory McMichaels is the retired police officer and the father of Terry McMichaels, the man with the shotgun.
William Bryan is the man that made the video. He lives in the neighborhood. It appears since he has lawyered up his story has changed.
I do not know if the case has been presented to a grand jury yet.
Not entirely true. This is what Georgia law states about citizens arrest.
OCGA17-4-60 A private person may arrest an offender If The offense is committed in his presence or within his immediate knowledge. If the offense is a felony and the offender is escaping or attempting to escape, a private person may arrest him upon reasonable and probable grounds of suspicion .”
In his statement to police the day of the incident Gregory claimed to have seen surveillance footage of Arbery at the construction site. This must be referring to the video from Oct 19. So if Gregory was shown that video and it showed Arbery stealing enough material to constitute a felony then he would have “immediate knowledge” of a felony and it would have been perfectly legal for him to attempt to arrest Arbery. (Have seen no info if Terry saw the video or not.) (Also since Arbery was on probation just stealing from the site may be a felony).
“Was it Trespassing or was it Burglary?”
Georgia law states that burglary requires intent on committing an unlawful act. There’s no way to know what Arbery’s intent was that day and as he took nothing, the most he could be charged with is trespassing which is a misdemeanor in that state and that depends on if the owner of the house under construction wished to press charges.
If the owner of the house under construction didn’t press charges, then Arbery would have been released as he technically didn’t commit a crime.
Where does it say something has to be taken and where did the hammer come from?
O.C.G.A. 17-4-60 (2010)
17-4-60. Grounds for arrest
A private person may arrest an offender if the offense is committed in his presence or within his immediate knowledge. If the offense is a felony and the offender is escaping or attempting to escape, a private person may arrest him upon reasonable and probable grounds of suspicion.
GA Code § 16-7-1 (2014)
(b) A person commits the offense of burglary in the first degree when, without authority and with the intent to commit a felony or theft therein, he or she enters or remains within an occupied, unoccupied, or vacant dwelling house of another or any building, vehicle, railroad car, watercraft, aircraft, or other such structure designed for use as the dwelling of another. A person who commits the offense of burglary in the first degree shall be guilty of a felony
Given the fact that they weren't arrested until the hue and cry emerged, yeah, political prisoners sounds about right. If they were prisoners of actual law, they would have been arrested in February when the incident occurred.
Waiting till May makes it a political arrest for a political cause.
Oh barf.
If they were prisoners of actual law, they would have been arrested in February when the incident occurred.
Maybe it took the state to send in competent investigators and a competent prosecutor before justice was done and these two were held over to await trial. If evidence shows they're innocent then they should walk free. If not then they're facing years in jail. In neither case can anyone in their right mind classify these two as 'political prisoners'.
The key phrase:
“If the offense is a felony”
Trespass in Georgia is a misdemeanor. There is no evidence that Arbery committed burglary that day.
Where is the evidence that Arbery intended to commit a felony? There isn’t any. George McMicahel said he thought Arbery was armed. If so, why was George standing in the back of the pickup fully exposed? If Arbery was armed, why did Travis move towards him at the front of the vehicle when Arbery ran to the right of the pickup? A sane man would have moved to left of the pickup for cover when Arbery ran to the right. A sane man wouldn’t be standing in the box of the pickup fully exposed.
You are making broad generalizations about what sane men will do in potentially dangerous situations.
Your comment supports your world view, true. But is either true?
“You are making broad generalizations about what sane men will do in potentially dangerous situations.”
George was a retire police officer with years of experience. The last thing one would expect an experienced police officer to do when being approached by an armed felon is to stand in the back of a pickup box with his revolver still in his holster. George told police they grabbed their guns because they believed Arbery to be armed but they both acted as if they believed he wasn’t. I do not for a second believe that anyone here would say they would just stand their in the open fully exposed by an armed felon was running at them.
Looks like Georgia law says he committed the felony when he entered a private residence. I’ve never heard he was armed but I’m sure curious where the hammer came from.
“...and even then it’s up to the owner of the property to decide that and we’ve heard nothing from the said owner.”
You’ve not been following the news, then.
https://www.wtoc.com/2020/05/11/homeowners-attorney-arbery-familys-attorney-respond-new-video/
Thanks! I just read that news not long ago.
So, what you are saying is that if Arbery had just stopped (as Mr. McMichael kept asking him to do) and waited for the police, then he would be a free man.
Au contraire. He would be the BEST choice to have make a citizen's arrest.
1. He knew the subject and his previous criminal history.
2. He knew the laws about open-carry.
3. He knew the law about citizen's arrest.
4. He knew more about THE LAWS concerned in this case than just about anyone you could ever pick at random from you neighborhood.
5. His chance at placing someone under citizen arrest and getting the police to respond and investigate are probably ten times better than if it was you or I.
I think he was dealing with three OPTIONS.
He recognized the older man in the back of the pick up. The older man recognized him. There was no easy way out. There would be no 'id' problem. That older man in the truck knew his name and his previous crimes. Flight was out of the question, the only thing left was Fight.
1. He could get the gun, kill them both and escape.
2. He could get in a struggle, get injured, and live like a king off the lawsuits.
3. He could die. It was that or go to prison.
No. Arbery used his race card. Got his lawyer to claim that Arbery shouldn't be held responsible for his criminal behavior because he had mental issues caused by oppression... you dig?
Law enforcement officers - especially wildlife officers - approach visibly armed and potentially armed men everyday for the purpose of arresting them with their pistols in their holsters and their long-guns secured in the trunks of their cars.
You are making up stuff to support your world view.
And those patrol cars are not usually up-armored.
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