Support NeoGAF

[Averon]

Maybe prosecutors screwed up on purpose to protect the cop?

Wouldn't surprise me.

It is pretty crazy that the same DAs that work with the police everyday are often the same DAs that decide if a cop gets charged with a crime. That screams "conflict of interests". Given how police work and co-operation is so critical to cases, is it any wonder why prosecutors often give abusive and corrupt cops a pass? Piss off the cops, and your ability to prosecute cases run the risk of being severely hampered.

 

[roknin]

Man.... this is just... wow.

I didn't think I could still be surprised by this stuff, but the world manages to still amaze me in the worst ways.

I wouldn't doubt that the prosecution did flub that with the intent of making the case weak.

 

[Onemic]

now i remember why i took a break from gaf

 

[MonorailCat]

what a piece of trash.
Firing blindly into a crowd, because someone may or may not have pointed something at him. Then he gets no punishment at all. And he even dares to defend his murder as justified.

If there ever was a case for vigilantism, this would be it.

 

[antonz]

I would like to believe this was a procedural fuck up by an Attorney who was afraid of overcharging a cop and getting a sympathetic jury for the cop but this just screams deliberate.

Cop was well taught by his lawyer. Even after getting off make sure the victim is portrayed as total shit

 

[Random Painted HIghway]

Have to agree with the judge on is one. He clearly did not care for the prosecutors/theories of the case in this and let them have it in a very public way. I bet the defense waived jury because they knew the charging information was defective, I've done that on much smaller cases. Glad the judge exposed the double standard here, anyone else pointing and firing a gun would get a straight up murder, not this reckless charge.

 

[Kid Kamikaze10]

The prosecution shouldn't be allow on any high profile case like this again.

 

[slit]

You know time after time this happens, I hope we get closer to actually doing something about this.

However, the realist in me says it will never happen.

 

[Tagyhag]

I get WHY he was found not guilty, but holy hell that's incredibly stupid.

The prosecution should have known better as well. Dude can now rest easy the rest of his life knowing he got away with murder on a technicality.

 

[zeemumu]

So he got off because he was clearly intending to kill the person, so it couldn't be manslaughter. Those must have been some inept prosecutors to overlook that.

Prosecutors had charged Servin with involuntary manslaughter, not murder, saying he acted recklessly when he fired five shots over his shoulder from inside his car in the direction of four people who had their backs to him in a dark West Side alley.

I don't understand. Were they in a trick shot firefight? Why was he firing over his shoulder at people who weren't facing him?

Police found only a cellphone at the scene near Douglas Park.

He blamed Cross' actions for causing Boyd's death.

Antonio Cross is a would-be cop killer and that's all I have to say."

I don't understand this, either. If they only found a phone, what happened to the weapon that he was going to kill him with?

Is manslaughter the usual charge or was the prosecution not doing their job?

I think they screwed up by attempting to play it safe. Either the prosecutors were dirty, or they were thinking "convicting a cop of murder is unlikely, let's just go for the manslaughter charge."

In most cases, the prosecutors go to hard with a greater charge and that's what screws them over. This one was on the prosecutors, and the judge probably knew it.

 

[slit]

I get WHY he was found not guilty, but holy hell that's incredibly stupid.

The prosecution should have known better as well. Dude can now rest easy the rest of his life knowing he got away with murder on a technicality.

Yeah, they probably did, that's the problem.....or at least one of the problems.

 

[Kettch]

Haha, what. I'm going to assume that the lawyer is completely wrong and that the detective is going to be accurately charged with murder now. You don't just let someone off because they were charged too lightly. Our justice system is fucked up, but it can't be that fucked up.

 

[soleil]

It's not so much the charge, as the elements of the charge.

If 1st/2nd degree murder were just Involuntary Manslaughter with extra conditions, then double jeopardy would apply here. However, in this case, Involuntary Manslaughter has a condition that does not have to be met for 1st/2nd degree murder, and the judge was explicit that the state's failure to meet that condition is what resulted in the directed verdict.

Given that, I'd think he's not protected by double jeopardy.

Crossing my fingers for this to be the case.