Bundy Verdict: And People Wonder Why POC Aren't Standing for Nat'l Anthem

[ZX86]

It's because the criminal justice system is grossly unfair and Black lives are disposable in the eyes of law enforcement. Every time we see another White person escape justice and another Black person needlessly and cavalierly killed during encounters with police it's a punch in the gut.

Same kind of gut punch we got when Rodney King cops were acquitted. Same kind of gut punch we get knowing men, women, and children can be gunned down in the street, found hanging in jail cells, and with broken necks in the back of police vans for the most minor offenses (or no offenses at all!); yet White folks can engage in open, heavily armed insurrection and they will be coddled, pampered, and eventually set free.

You can point guns at cops, steal land, steal government resources, steal government property, occupy government buildings, threaten government workers and it's all cool. Not so much as a parking ticket let alone a felony conviction. As long as you're White. But if you're Black you better not have so much as a disabled car on the side of the road or you could be shot dead in the street.

It's really hard to get into all that ra ra America crap at every sporting event when your daily reality is one day watching a guy getting choked to death on the sidewalk for selling loose cigarettes and the next day seeing anti-government terrorists acquitted for crimes we all saw them commit.

[Dawson Leery]

1. k/r

[atreides1]

2. The way I understand it...

The government was trying to prove conspiracy, because a conviction for conspiracy will often result in a longer prison sentence!

Which would cause me to question why the prosecutor just didn't go for the charges that could be proven, ie. Theft of government property, trespassing on government property, possession of firearms on government property?

There are other theories, were the jurors threatened in any way by Bundy supporters, did the jurors already have their minds made up and were just going through the motions, did the prosecutor reach to far...I'm sure there are other theories, we'll never really know!

[ZX86]

3. Pretty easy to figure out.

The defendants were White.

[Buns_of_Fire]

4. Here's a thread with some good links to local articles...

Bundy Jurors speak: arrogance of prosecution and predisposed to acquit http://www.democraticunderground.com/10028256973

Especially interesting is the link to the original Oregonian article: http://www.oregonlive.com/oregon-standoff/2016/10/juror_4_prosecutors_in_oregon.html (Juror 4: Oregon standoff prosecutors failed to prove 'intent' to impede federal workers) -- it almost looks like the jury was looking for a loophole they could use to send the Bundy Bunch on their merry way...

[COLGATE4]

8. Classic instance of Jury nullification, plain and simple.

Those idiots weren't going to convict their fellow morons.

[enough]

6. They WERE charged with possession of firearms on government property.

They were acquitted of that also.

[Mendocino]

7. I haven't stood for the anthem

or recited the pledge in 45 some years. I've been yelled at and ridiculed, had all sorts of stuff thrown at me. What these rubes don't realize that every time they retaliate, my resolve grows greater.