XPost: ba.politics, dc.media, soc.penpals   
   XPost: alt.burningman   
   From: mgunderson@yahoo.com   
      
   SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) - By the time all four verdicts were read   
   clearing two California officers of killing a homeless man,   
   people on both sides of the gallery were sobbing.   
      
   In the audience, the mother of Kelly Thomas wept into a tissue   
   as someone shouted, "No!" A collective gasp went up from the   
   gallery. Former Officer Jay Cicinelli's attorney pounded twice   
   on the defense table, grabbing his client in a bear hug, as   
   former Officer Manuel Ramos' family clutched hands and cried.   
      
   Thomas, 37, died five days after a violent confrontation with   
   six officers in July 2011. A surveillance camera at the busy   
   transit center where the incident unfolded captured him   
   screaming for his father again and again and begging for air as   
   the police kneed him, jolted him with an electric stun gun and   
   used the blunt end to strike him around the face and head.   
      
   It was a rare case in which police officers were charged in a   
   death involving actions on duty. Jurors took less than two days   
   to reach their verdicts.   
      
   Ramos, 39, was acquitted of second-degree murder and involuntary   
   manslaughter on Monday. Cicinelli, 41, was acquitted of   
   involuntary manslaughter and excessive use of force.   
      
   Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckus, who tried the   
   case himself, said after the verdicts that charges will be   
   dropped against Joseph Wolfe, a third officer awaiting trial.   
      
   The FBI said that it will review the evidence to determine   
   whether federal action is justified.   
      
   "With the conclusion of the state court trial, investigators   
   will examine the evidence and testimony to determine whether   
   further investigation is warranted at the federal level," said   
   Laura Eimiller, the FBI's spokeswoman in Los Angeles.   
      
   Outside court, Thomas' parents condemned the verdicts.   
      
   "Just horrified," Cathy Thomas said. "He got away with murdering   
   my son."   
      
   Ron Thomas said the verdict gave police "carte blanche" to   
   brutalize people.   
      
   "All of us need to be very afraid now," he said. "Police   
   officers everywhere can beat us, kill us, whatever they want,   
   but it has been proven right here today they'll get away with   
   it."   
      
   Ramos' attorney, John Barnett, said jurors did their duty.   
      
   "These peace officers were doing their jobs," he said. "They   
   were operating as they were trained, and they had no malice in   
   their hearts."   
      
   The defense said Thomas started the confrontation by refusing to   
   heed police orders and was fighting officers so much that they   
   called for backup multiple times. At one point, the lawyers   
   said, Thomas tried to reach for Cicinelli's stun gun.   
      
   Ron Thomas has countered that his son suffered from   
   schizophrenia and didn't understand the officers.   
      
   The video began with Ramos stopping Thomas on July 5, 2011,   
   after the officer answered a call about a disheveled man   
   jiggling the handles of car doors in a busy transit center   
   parking lot.   
      
   Ramos grew frustrated with Thomas, who wasn't following orders   
   to sit on a curb with his hands on his knees.   
      
   Just before the altercation began, Ramos snapped on plastic   
   gloves, made two fists and then held them in front of Thomas'   
   face as he said, "Now see these fists? They're going to   
   (expletive) you up."   
      
   Cicinelli, who arrived a few moments later, jolted Thomas   
   several times with an electric stun gun and used the butt end to   
   hit Thomas in the head and face, breaking bones.   
      
   Thomas was taken off life support five days later.   
      
   A county pathologist concluded that Thomas died, in part, from   
   asphyxiation caused by injuries he received during the   
   confrontation.   
      
   Defense attorneys said Thomas suffered from an enlarged heart   
   from drug abuse, and his exertions during the struggle were too   
   much for him.   
      
   Thomas' death led to days of protests in Fullerton, a Southern   
   California college town, forced the recall of three City Council   
   members and led the police chief to step down.   
      
   After the verdicts, Fullerton Police Chief Dan Hughes issued a   
   statement urging people to express their feelings "respectfully."   
      
   Several dozen protesters gathered outside the courthouse after   
   the verdict waving signs, and a similar size crowd gathered at   
   the transit center where the struggle occurred later Monday   
   night, but both demonstrations were peaceful and there were no   
   reported arrests. A memorial with flowers and candles was set up   
   at the transit center, and people wrote messages to Thomas in a   
   guest book.   
      
   During the trial, the defense told jurors that Thomas was not a   
   peaceful, helpless man. They said he had a history of drug use   
   and was homeless because he had attacked members of his own   
   family.   
      
   Cathy Thomas testified that he choked her for several minutes   
   during an argument, and Thomas' grandfather said Thomas attacked   
   him with a fireplace poker in 1995.   
      
   He did not have any drugs or alcohol in his system the night of   
   the incident.   
      
   Only a handful of police officers nationwide have been charged   
   with murder for actions taken while on duty, and convictions in   
   those cases are rare, said Lawrence Rosenthal, a law professor   
   at Chapman University School of Law and a former federal   
   prosecutor.   
      
   Unless the prosecution can prove the officers falsified reports   
   or covered up evidence, jurors are usually willing to acquit, he   
   said.   
      
   "Police officers are very unusual kinds of defendants because   
   ... they are seen as acting not in their own interests but   
   acting to protect the public at large, the very people sitting   
   on their jury," Rosenthal said.   
      
   Jurors are willing to forgive lapses in judgment rather than put   
   an officer "in the cage with the same people that officer has   
   spent his life arresting," he said.   
      
   http://www.wdam.com/story/24440987/two-ex-officers-found-not-   
   guilty-in-beating-death-of-homeless-man   
      
               
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)