USA Today kijkt met spanning uit naar wat de jury in het Chauvin-proces zal besluiten. Intussen ging de rechter los op Democratische politici, die zich er mee bemoeiden.

Dat de rechter in het Chauvin-proces niet gelukkig was met de commotie rond de zaak mag niemand verbazen. Beïnvloeding van buitenaf zet de bijl aan de wortels van de juryrechtspraak:

As Townhall.com’s Spencer Brown details, Chauvin’s lawyers pointed out that jurors were not sequestered during the case and therefore may not be free from outside influence in the form of news updates they may have inadvertently or purposefully seen along with ongoing violence in the community surrounding the Chauvin trial and approaching verdict.

Senator Maxine Waters uit Californië was afgelopen week te vaak in het nieuws, en dat zou gevolgen kùnnen hebben:

Chauvin trial Judge Peter Cahill responds to defense request for a mistrial over comments by Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA):

“I’ll give you that Congresswoman Waters may have given you something on appeal that may result in this whole trial being overturned.” pic.twitter.com/jPp7zl0iGd

— The Recount (@therecount) April 19, 2021

Maar de advocaten van Chauvin kregen vooralsnog nul op rekest:

Even though the judge denied the defense’s motion for mistrial, he highlighted the damage her rhetoric may have done, saying “Congresswoman Waters may have given you something on appeal that may result in this whole trial being overturned.”

De sterkste afkeuring die een rechter kan geven in een proces als dit. De woorden die de rechter gebruikte:

I think if they want to give their opinions, they should do so in a respectful and in a manner that is consistent with their oath to the Constitution, to respect the co-equal branch of government.

Their failure to do so I think is abhorrent, but I don’t think it’s prejudiced us with additional material that would prejudice this jury. They have been told not to watch the news. I trust they are following those instructions and that there is not in any way a prejudice to the defendant beyond the articles that were talking specifically about the facts of this case.

Maar dat de rechter met verdere acties wil wachten tot de jury uitspraak heeft gedaan is in deze situatie logisch. Als hij nu al een mistrial zou verklaren is het land te klein. Ook de jury kan immers nog een mistrial veroorzaken door het niet eens te worden over de uitspraak. Zie daarvoor ons artikel van gisteren. Het juryberaad duurt op dit moment al ongeveer 24 uur. Zowel de National Guard in Minneapolis als Facebook hebben hun battle stations betrokken:

As the National Guard takes up positions across Minneapolis ahead of the Derek Chauvin verdict, Facebook has announced that it will be heavily moderating its platform to remove posts promoting civil unrest or violence in Minneapolis, according to Bloomberg.

Over Facebook:

The social media giant will remove posts that celebrate or praise the death of George Floyd – however there’s no indication from the report that Facebook will be removing posts used to coordinate protests – some of which will undoubtedly become riots. The company considers Derek Chauvin a public figure, and George Floyd an ‘involuntary public figure.’

Al blijven er over de aanstaande acties van FB nog enige vragen open:

Facebook will allow users to discuss the trial and attorneys, but will remove content which violates their policies on ‘hate speech, bullying, graphic violence and incitement.’ No word on whether they’ll remove clips of Rep. Maxine Waters inciting a mob before members of the National Guard were injured in a weekend shooting.

De BLM-demonstraties echter:

The closest instance occurred just a few miles from the courthouse in downtown Minneapolis when a white police officer fatally shot a Black motorist, Daunte Wright, on April 11 in the suburb of Brooklyn Center after trying to arrest him on the belief he had missed a court appearance. The officer, Kimberly Potter, had meant to use her Tazer to stop him driving away but pulled out the wrong weapon, police say. She has been charged with manslaughter.

As angry protests swelled, Minneapolis and state officials have ramped up security precautions in the city. The tower in which the courtroom sits is ringed by barbed wire, high barriers and armed soldiers from the National Guard, and nearby businesses have boarded up their windows. Giant drab-colored military vehicles have become a common sight in city streets. -Reuters

Intussen is de sheriff van Los Angeles in het nieuws met de uitspraak dat ‘Defund the police’ en er mee samenhangende progressieve politieke standpunten verantwoordelijk zijn voor de piek in misdadigheid van dit moment.

Violent crime has soared in Los Angeles County this year because criminals have been emboldened by progressive law enforcement policies as well as the “defund the police” movement, the county’s sheriff says.
Los Angeles County Sheriff –Alex Villanueva said the county recorded 60 homicides during the first two months of the year, compared to 21 in the year-earlier time frame, he told Fox News in an interview.

En Villenueva had tevens een specifiek doelwit :

Villanueva specifically blamed new Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón, a Democrat who was elected to lead the nation’s largest prosecutorial office in December 2020, amid the widespread unrest and calls to “defund the police” following the death of George Floyd while in Minneapolis police custody.

Deze DA was ongetwijfeld gekozen met hulp van een speciaal Soros-verkiezingsfonds, dat zich richt op het doen verkiezen van DA’s die criminelen vriendelijk gezind zijn, vanuit de gedachte dat de meesten van hen slachtoffer zijn van hun sociaaleconomische omstandigheden. Waar kennen we dat ook al weer van?

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Andere afleveringen uit de onregelmatig verschijnende rubriek USA Today, met gemengd Amerikaans nieuws vindt u hier.

Het Chauvin-proces vindt u hier.