Baba
Two outrageous incidents in US injustice system
Namaskar,
Kindly consider the following two cases....
Incident #1:
A judge on Thursday sentenced a black Alabama teenager to 65 years in prison for a series of crimes, including murder, even though a police officer was the one who actually killed the victim.
Lakeith Smith, now an 18-year-old black teenager, was convicted under the state’s accomplice liability law in March. Based on that law, a person can be convicted of murder if they were committing a crime with the deceased that led to the other person’s death, according to the Montgomery Advertiser. In Smith’s case, he was involved in burglaries alongside A’Donte Washington, 16, when a police officer shot and killed Washington in 2015.
In February 2015, both Smith and Washington were part of a group of five who broke into two houses in Millbrook, Alabama, the Advertiser reports. When police responded to the scene, the two sides exchanged gunfire. Body camera footage played in court showed Washington running towards an officer pointing a gun at him. The officer then shot and killed Washington.
Circuit Judge Sibley Reynolds sentenced the black teenager Smith to 65 years in prison on Thursday — 30 years for a felony murder, 15 for burglary and two 10-year sentences for theft.
“The officer shot A’donte, not Lakeith Smith,” said Smith’s attorney Jennifer Holton during the trial, as per USA Today. “Lakeith was a 15-year-old child, scared to death. He did not participate in the act that caused the death of A’donte. He never shot anybody.”
Though Smith was a minor when the incident took place, he was tried as an adult.
In March, Smith declined a plea deal that would have sentenced him to 25 years in prison; he was convicted later that month.
The other three defendants involved in the burglaries have all entered guilty pleas, Fox 8 Live reports. One has been sentenced to 28 years in prison, while the other two have not yet been sentenced.
And as for the Millbrook police officer who actually killed Washington? A grand jury cleared him of any wrongdoing back in 2016, saying he was justified in fatally shooting Washington, WSFA reported at the time. (Courtesy of Huffington Post)
Incident #2:
Ethan Couch, a white teenager, whose trial for killing four people while driving drunk sparked widespread conversations about the privilege of being raised wealthy and white, was released from a Texas jail on Monday after nearly two years.
Mr. Couch, 20, became known as the “white affluenza teen” after a psychologist suggested during his trial that growing up with money might have left him with psychological afflictions, too rich to tell right from wrong. He attracted further attention when he and his mother, Tonya Couch, fled to Mexico in an effort to evade possible jail time.
He served his 720-day sentence in a jail in Tarrant County, and was freed about a week before his 21st birthday. (Courtesy of The New York Times)
Conclusion
The whole story can be understood by the following points:
(#1) Human Society Justice Chapter. US Justice system improper. Causes huge harm to society. Too harsh. Criminal justice system very negative in US.
(#2) Example of racism - system biased. Two above articles. Black boy 65 yrs in prison no murder, white boy 2 years in prison 4 murders. Police officer killed the boy, and let off free.
In Him,
Manoranjan
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