Juror's Letter Released Subsequent to Ofc. Betty Shelby's Acquittal

[LittleLebowski]

Thanks for sharing that.

[voodoo_man]

Not positive, but my recollection is that it was a magnum load of PCP?

Yeah, that should have been a huge red flag for any normal person.

This wasn't a normal person simply having a bad day, this was a multi-arrest/active arrest warrants, criminal who was extremely high and refusing to listen to commands. He was in the wrong 100% and he paid for it with it his life. Most officers would have made the same decision.

[StrikerFire]

An increasing problem for our society, in my experience, is that a majority of our citizens today have no idea what "the law" actually is. By this I mean not only are they ignorant of what the law says, they are clueless as to what constitutes "law", as in statutory law. I encounter more adult "citizens" every day who believe that their emotional opinion should be the driver behind public policy or police actions. The other day I was called to the scene of a traffic dispute, in which one party mistakenly believed they had witnessed a hit&run of a parked car. They followed the other car for a few blocks and when the individual pulled over, the "witness" pulled up, rolled down their window, and told them they had struck a parked car and should go back and leave a note. The driver and their partner became enraged and began following the "witness" all around the neighborhood, until the witness pulled into a Fire Station. The Fire guys then called us. We examined the cars involved, found no damage, and tried explaining that this was just a mistake of the facts, but the two in the second car would have none of it, and demanded action over the first parties "threats" to them. The "threat" apparently was that the witness followed them, and told them they had hit a car....which made them feel "threatened". I explained the elements of Sec. 422 of the Ca. Penal Code......but was told "That's just your opinion. Ours is different, so we demand action." No amount of reason can break through when the other party has a fundamentally different view of reality.

This. So much this right here.