Chauvin's Trial

 In a free society people accused of crimes deserve a fair trial irrespective of whether they are guilty or innocent. I believe Derek Chauvin was guilty of at least manslaughter. I also believe he did not get a fair trial. For whatever reason, perhaps over worries about polls showing an unusually large percentage of black voters liking Trump, perhaps for some other purpose, leftists and their public relations people in the traditional media decided to make George Floyd BLM’s Horst Wessel.  His death was used as an excuse for rioting and looting, and as  the triggering event for a massive campaign pushing the false notion of “systemic racism” in America.

Chauvin’s  trial was held in Minneapolis where some of the worst riots had happened after Floyd’s death. It was commonly understood that an acquittal would lead to more riots and looting. Businesses around the city boarded up their widows and doors as a precaution against attacks by violent mobs. In such circumstances it would have been good to move the trial to another venue where jurors could have been selected from a pool of people with less reason to believe their lives and property would be in danger if they made an unpopular decision.  That was not done.

Failing that and given that the danger of riots was well known, and that people in the traditional media and politicians from the execrable Keith Ellison to the President of the United States were publicly demanding a verdict of guilty, and a member of the congress was in town inciting rioting, it surely would have been a good idea to sequester the jurors and isolate them from things going on outside the courtroom.  That was not done either.

I have no idea if these things will get Chauvin a new trial on appeal, but there are lawyers who think they could.  The leftists did things they did not need to do. I think Chauvin would have been convicted in a fair trial leaving no valid arguments for an appeal. There was no need to railroad him and to turn his case into a political show trial. The politicians and their supporters in the media went too far and may have created a backlash of sympathy for a person whose behavior deserved no sympathy. Even worse  there are people on the Trumpist side whose notions of proper political action are somewhat similar to those of BLM and Antifa. This may have given some of them a Horst Wessel of their own. You never want to manufacture martyrs for you enemies.  

 

Murder in Minneapolis

A few days ago during an arrest in Minneapolis,  a black man named George Floyd  screamed that he could not breathe and then died while a white cop was pressing his neck onto the ground with a knee for several minutes.  Two autopsies have been performed. According to reports in the news, they disagree as to the cause of death with one naming asphyxiation   as the cause of his death and the other finding death by cardiopulmonary arrest, but  both list his death as a homicide.  The cop has been arrested and charged with murder. 

In the last few days there have been  protests  and big demonstrations against  “racism”, the police,  and  sometimes society in general in cities around the country.  In several cities rioting vandals, hoodlums, and arsonists have looted and burned businesses and government offices and attacked police and bystanders.  People in the traditional media have given the crime and its aftermath huge amounts of coverage and attention. Leftist politicians and their media flacks have tried to portray the whole country, or at least all  the white people in it, as somehow responsible for or guilty of Floyd’s murder.  (Some Democrats have tried to blame it on Trump, which is peculiar  since local police report to local officials in this country, and the mayor of Minneapolis is a Dem.) Politicians, writers,  and commentators of various sorts have attempted to represent  the crime as something of national or global symbolic significance.

A while back a cop in Minneapolis  shot and murdered an innocent woman named Justine Diamond who had made a 911 call when she feared someone was being attacked.  In that case the cop was black and his victim was white. The crime led to no massive protests or demonstrations.  There was no violence, looting,  or rioting.  People in the traditional media generally ignored the story. A few conservative politicians and their media flacks tried  to make something of the fact that the murderer was an immigrant, but  usually stopped short of tarring all immigrants with the crime.  Almost no one tried to take the thing global.  People mainly treated it as what it was – a single crime for which the man who committed it was solely responsible.

The two cases are not entirely parallel.  Floyd’s death was caught on video, and many people need pictures to be able to take a thing seriously.  One event happened  quickly with a pistol, and one happened over a long period.  One had  a cop who has been reported to have a long record of bad behavior.

Still the differences between the aftermaths of the two events are striking, instructive,  and worth thinking about for several reasons.  Some people may also be thinking about  whether the benefits of big city life are enough to justify the costs and risks.