Posted on 09/22/2023 6:43:54 AM PDT by heartwood
The verdict of manslaughter against cop killer Othal Wallace on Sept. 16 prompted shock and outrage among the law enforcement community and beyond. Prosecutors argued for a first-degree murder conviction and were seeking the death penalty. Jurors disagreed and convicted him of the lesser charge.
So what happened? What Wallace, 31, was charged with first-degree murder in the killing of Jason Raynor on June 23, 2021, in Daytona Beach. The 26-year-old Raynor remained hospitalized until his death on Aug. 17, 2021...
The jury was made up of nine women and five men, including one Black man and one Black woman. The panel included three alternates....
The jury's decision hinged on two key elements. First, it did not consider the murder to be premeditated, which is required for a first-degree murder conviction. Second, the members apparently sympathized with the notion that Wallace was defending himself during the scuffle with Raynor.
His defense was that he was scared, he didn't know what that cop was going to do to him. Nothing like that had ever happened to him before. (He survived a domestic violence arrest just fine)
The defense attorney challenged the legitimacy of the stop.
Two weeks before he posted The prosecutors used as evidence of premeditation a June 7, 2021 post on social media: "1 Day I Will Take Great Pride And Honor In Getting Me Some Pigs Blood On My Hands And Boots," it reads. "I Pray Against My Enemy And Wish Death To All Who Are Oppressive To The Black Culture… Black Power!!"
After Wallace shot Raynor, he hid at the black militant Not Fucking Around compound.
A 30 year sentence is possible.
Actually from Daytona Beach News Journal not Daytona News Journal.
I watch a lot of those youtube videos of cops acting badly with citizens. My favorites are Lackluster, “audit the audit”, and Donut operator, though the latter has more encounters where the police are the good guys in the stop.
I always wonder if any of these people singled out by the cops are going to end up shooting a cop in self defense.
And don’t even get me started on civil asset forfeiture...
I believe the present ire against local cops is purposeful and political - it was organized by Obama and Holder, and continues to this day.
It just give Fed.gov cops, which in no surprise, no one ever calls to “defund,” more power over a last vestige of local power and local control.
I think the ire is caused by bodycam and cell phone camera footage. I recently watched cell phone camera footage of a police stop about 12 years ago and was shocked at how candid the cop was about ignoring the driver’s rights. It was like he was living in the 50’s. It was only after I noticed that that I realized this was uploaded before cops had any real kind of expectation of being video recorded. And the camera caught the cop, red-handed, being exactly what cop haters say about cops.
We are in a transition period. A lot of bad cops are going to go away. But it’s going to be ugly during this transition.
bkmk
“We are in a transition period. A lot of bad cops are going to go away. But it’s going to be ugly during this transition.”
______________________________________________
Well said. I agree.
A college friend was a LA Sheriff’s Deputy and a training officer. He quit after 10 years because of the culture and attitude within the LASD. He says it is very militant, antagonistic and corrupt. He also says it’s mission has changed from serving and protecting the public’s interest to its own interests/benefits.
“I watch a lot of those youtube videos of cops acting badly with citizens”
I guess there aren’t many videos of the thousands of contacts between police and citizens that happen daily where the results are posiive for you to watch.
The term “jack-booted thug” for badly behaved uniformed agents of The State goes back at least to the early 1990s. It’s not a “long-haired hippie-freak” thing, either. Those guys used terms like “pigs” or “the fuzz”.
I guess there aren’t many videos of the thousands of contacts between police and citizens that happen daily where the results are posiive for you to watch.
Waaaaayyyy back in the early 90's, when Bush Sr. was pushing civil asset forfeiture, I sounded the alarm to everyone I knew. No one cared, because 'it would only happen to those bad guys, the drug dealers'.
I knew all the way back then that America was going down.
I guess there aren’t many videos of the thousands of contacts between police and citizens that happen daily where the results are posiive for you to watch.
I’ve learned about three important phrases:
reasonable suspicion
Probable cause
Am I being detained?
And this important fact: A stop can only take as long as is reasonable to handle the reason you were stopped. e.g. if the cop stops you for speeding or a broken tail light, he’s got about 20 minutes to wrap things up. If it takes longer and you do not consent to a search, etc., but they do because of a dog “hit” and you have ten pounds of fentanyl in your trunk, the evidence is not admissable in court.
When the cops get into trouble is when they come across someone that knows the law. In such cases, the cops need to learn to check their ego and let the person move on.
The one video that angered me the most was when a driver was doing 65 in a 70 and the cop pulled him over because he was going five under, and then asked him if he was OK. Once the guy said he was fine and can he be on his way, the stop should have ended. Period. But the cop kept prying and prying and prying and, finally, gave the guy a written “warning”. For what? Who knows.
But I think there will be fewer and fewer videos like that as more and more people sue.
Another thing I realized as I watched these videos is that being a cop is like any other job. If you want promotions and raises, you perform well. Often that means sniffing out more bad guys. So it becomes pretty clear in these videos that the cops don’t want to just let a guy go when they had a feeling he was holding, etc. I think that is why so many of the bogus stops are of people in beaters that almost certainly have some marijuana or crack or meth in the car. In fact, in one video they were caught red handed planting meth in the car because there was nothing even though the person was a “known user” in the past. So they fudged, probably figuring the person usually had it in the car.
Cameras and education of the population are going to end a lot of that.
That is the eventual outcome of ALL bureaucracies and agencies.
Yep. Civil asset forfeiture destroys all pretense that they are just there to get bad guys. I know there are a lot of good cops, but whenever I encounter cops, I am quite wary and prepared to do what is necessary, if it becomes necessary.
But so far it’s not an issue. When I lived in Seattle I was pulled over three times a year. Here in Kentucky I’ve been pulled over twice in the twelve years I’ve been here. And I drive a lot more and a lot faster. I’m also older and they are not interested in me.
They may have played fast and loose but they played by instinct and gut. All that is being bred out and crooks know what they can and WILL get away with. That's why crime is skyrocketing...police are bureaucrats now and not law enforcement.
They may have played fast and loose but they played by instinct and gut. All that is being bred out and crooks know what they can and WILL get away with. That’s why crime is skyrocketing...police are bureaucrats now and not law enforcement.
I think the “we got a call” thing is funny. I was in my old yellow Opel GT in a coastal community in washington state once, running up and down the streets with no exhaust. We had a vacation property there (no building on it yet) and we were there with my parents in law and their motorhome.
Anyway, a cop came by and he said they got a call about someone in a yellow corvette with a loud exhaust had been speeding through the neighborhood and they wanted to know if we’d seen it. I said no but I’d be on the lookout. He thanked me and left. During our discussion we were standing next to my yellow Opel GT. It was a clear “nod and a wink” moment.🤣
Justice(sic) for criminal A$$ES..... and F’ the rest of America!!
That was a good response. On the other hand, the body cams and cell phone videos won’t show many lawful, polite interactions and/or heroic feats, but these won’t promote any anti-police agendas so they won’t be shown. Two sides of the story.
I’m completely with you on that. In fact, I make the argument a lot that people think the cops primarily just pull over and shoot black people, but that is only because that is all they see. In reality, far more white people are pulled over and/or shot by police. I know from experience that most stops are very cordial. And, frankly, I think a lot of the people putting up those videos of “cops acting badly” are trying to provoke the cops to get a better video. It’s the ones like the guy I mentioned doing 65 in a 70 that irk me. Nice, polite guy, but the cop wouldn’t give it a rest.
In fact, here it is...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gy8IUeyqDkA
And here’s the “race baiting” version:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cnm20nacrRs
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.