At 07:14 PM 02/25/2000 -0500, Peter Capelli wrote:
>but it begs the question; what *would* a policeman have to do to get
>convicted of murder?
>
>http://abcnews.go.com/sections/us/DailyNews/diallo000225_verdict.html
Getting convicted by a US court's jury requires having a prosecutor convince
all 12 jurors that you're guilty. Usually that's tough for an on-duty cop.
And cops in groups backing up each others' stories seldom get convicted.
Cop killing their spouses, or their spouses' lovers, may get convicted,
or cops killing other cops, or off-duty cops engaged in clearly illegal
activity
(e.g. robbing liquor stores, but not robbing drug dealers) may also lose.
Of course, killing white people with non-Italian surnames increases
the chances of a conviction, but it's still pretty low.
The other way to be convicted is by public opinion; enough bad press
and somebody willing to do something about it can lead to the
cops getting killed or their houses getting burned down.
It's not the same standard of justice you'd like the courts to use,
but enough people have watched Charles Bronson or Dirty Harry movies
that you don't expect only non-uniformed criminals to be the targets.
Thanks!
Bill
Bill Stewart, [EMAIL PROTECTED]
PGP Fingerprint D454 E202 CBC8 40BF 3C85 B884 0ABE 4639
