Tag: conviction

How Media Freedom Led To Conviction In His Killer’s Trial – The Other George Floyd Story
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How Media Freedom Led To Conviction In His Killer’s Trial – The Other George Floyd Story

When 17-year-old Darnella Frazier started recording video of Minneapolis policeman Derek Chauvin murdering George Floyd, she initiated a series of historic events that led to Chauvin’s conviction. But for all the discussion of technology following her actions – how cellphones enable video recording of police abuse and how social media encourages instantaneous mass distribution – the key factor in George Floyd’s name becoming globally famous may not be Frazier’s cellphone. It may not even be social media. It was the culture and tradition of U.S. civil liberties and media freedom that played an essential role in protecting Frazier’s ability to record and retain possession of the video, and the capability of commercial corporations to publish it. Had the same events transpired in China, Sa...
2 Things To Know About Jury Bias And 2 Ways To Reduce It – Chauvin Conviction
VIDEO REELS

2 Things To Know About Jury Bias And 2 Ways To Reduce It – Chauvin Conviction

Shortly after the guilty verdicts were revealed in former police officer Derek Chauvin’s trial for murdering George Floyd, legal experts suggested Chauvin will appeal, arguing that his right to a fair trial was threatened by extensive pretrial publicity. Video of Derek Chauvin with his knee on the neck of George Floyd for more than nine minutes was shared around the globe on social media and drew international outrage. The publicity around Floyd’s death will likely underlie any Chauvin appeal. To help place the jury’s unanimous decision on all three charges in context, here are some important facts about juries. Pretrial publicity and other biases High-profile incidents of police killings often result in widespread pretrial publicity about the defendant and victim. The Derek Chauvin case ...
Ex-Dallas officer Amber Guyger’s murder conviction ‘a huge victory for black people in America’
Journalism

Ex-Dallas officer Amber Guyger’s murder conviction ‘a huge victory for black people in America’

A former Dallas police officer convicted of murder in the fatal shooting of a black neighbor in his own home could be sentenced to as little as two years in prison, a judge ruled at a sentencing hearing Wednesday. Amber Guyger, who fatally shot Botham Jean a year ago as he ate a bowl of ice cream, normally would face a sentence ranging from five years to 99 years. But Judge Tammy Kemp ruled the jury can consider a "sudden passion" defense that could reduce a sentence. Kemp made the ruling at the behest of the defense – with the support of prosecutors. Guyger, who is white, had testified at trial that she returned from an extended police shift and incorrectly believed she had entered her own apartment. She said she panicked when she saw Jean, an accountant from St. Lucia who she had never m...
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US court tosses black man’s murder conviction over racial bias

Supreme Court tosses out Curtis Flowers's conviction in sixth trial of 1996 murders, citing racial bias. Curtis Giovanni Flowers, left, listens to testimony in his third capital murder trial [Winona Times/Dale Gerstenslager/AP Photo] The United States Supreme Court on Friday threw out the murder conviction and death sentence for a black man in Mississippi because of a prosecutor's efforts to keep African Americans off the jury. The defendant already has been tried six times and now could face a seventh trial. The removal of black prospective jurors deprived inmate Curtis Flowers of a fair trial, the court said in a 7-2 decision written by Justice Brett Kavanaugh. The long record of Flowers's trials stretching back more than 20 years shows Distric...