| American Justice 10:13 - Mar 22 with 469 views | Pegojack |
There was a very interesting documentary on BBC2 last night called American Justice, which looked at the system in operation in Jacksonville, Florida, reputedly one of the toughest US States in terms of administering justice.
It followed two cases, a murder investigation of an elderly man and his niece in a trailer home, and the trial of a young black man, accused of second degree murder in an unusual case where he and his cousin had allegedly broken into a home with intent to commit an armed robbery. His cousin got shot dead by an occupant of the house, but he was charged with murder due to a law which makes perpetrators of crimes like this responsible for what happens to accomplices. The guy who actually shot the alleged burglar was facing no charge, having supposedly acted in self defence. Seems bizarre, but that's actually the way the law works in Florida at least.
Before you say, good, they got what they deserved, the guy was actually acquitted at trial, because it came out that the accused were actually friends of the home owner, had been at a party with him the night before, and claimed that the homeowner had invited them around the following morning to discuss buying a rifle from them, and 'to smoke some weed'. The deal had gone sour, there was a tussle and the shooting started. So far from it being an armed robbery, the jury believed it was just a fight amongst a bunch of potheads over ownership of a rifle.
Being a big fan of American crime fiction myself, particularly Michael Connelly's novels, it was very interesting to see how real life law enforcement personnel go about their jobs - the police, the DAs, the defence attorney, the judges, etc., etc. I must say the defence lawyer for the young black guy looked scary with her tattooed on eyebrows, but she got him off.
Question for our US friends - the show also featured the chief DA on the election campaign trail. At what level do officials have to get elected? For example, is it just the chief DA., or all the DAs under her too? Just the Chief of Police, etc. etc.? |  | | |  |
| American Justice on 10:21 - Mar 22 with 458 views | raynor94 |
Yeah, great show. Very strange though that the guy that did the shooting 12 bullets mind, had no action taken against him even though the defendant was found not guilty |  |
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| American Justice on 10:27 - Mar 22 with 456 views | Pegojack |
| American Justice on 10:21 - Mar 22 by raynor94 |
Yeah, great show. Very strange though that the guy that did the shooting 12 bullets mind, had no action taken against him even though the defendant was found not guilty |
Yes, he was well dodgy. "The gun just appeared in my hand" FFS. I presume time constraints didn't allow the show to go into the trial in greater depth, but I imagine the defence tore him apart on cross. | | | |
| American Justice on 10:30 - Mar 22 with 449 views | DafyddHuw |
Shadwell - I know that Sheriffs have to run for office, and that's pretty low down the scale. |  | | |
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