XPost: ba.politics, dc.media, soc.penpals   
   XPost: alt.burningman   
   From: msnbchomo@espn.com   
      
   There is nothing artistic about black rap music.  It's just   
   blacks running their mouths and trying to stir up trouble.   
      
   NEWARK, NJ –  A New Jersey man whose rap lyrics boasted he would   
   "blow your face off and leave your brain caved in the street"   
   will have his attempted murder case considered by the state's   
   Supreme Court, which will decide whether the words he penned   
   should have been admitted at trial.   
      
   Vonte Skinner's case is being watched closely by civil liberties   
   advocates who contend the lyrics should be considered protected   
   free speech under the Constitution. In an amicus brief in   
   support of Skinner, the ACLU New Jersey contends that rap   
   lyrics, because of their violent imagery, are treated   
   differently than other written works.   
      
   "That a rap artist wrote lyrics seemingly embracing the world of   
   violence is no more reason to ascribe to him a motive and intent   
   to commit violent acts than to ... indict Johnny Cash for having   
   `shot a man in Reno just to watch him die,"' according to the   
   brief.   
      
   After an initial trial ended without a verdict, Skinner was   
   convicted at a second trial of shooting Lamont Peterson multiple   
   times at close range in 2005, leaving Peterson paralyzed from   
   the waist down. Peterson was reluctant initially to identify   
   Skinner as the shooter, but eventually testified at the trial   
   that Skinner was the assailant. Peterson testified the two men   
   sold drugs as part of a three-man "team" and developed a dispute   
   when Peterson began skimming some of the profits for himself.   
      
   During the trial, state prosecutors read 13 pages of rap lyrics   
   that were found in the back seat of the car Skinner was driving   
   when arrested. The writings, some penned three or four years   
   before the Peterson shooting, include a reference to "four slugs   
   drillin' your cheek to blow your face off and leave your brain   
   caved in the street."   
      
   Another passage describes a mother in a mortuary, taking clothes   
   "red soaked ravaged with holes" and "Wonderin' if you died in   
   pain. Was it instant or did you feel the slugs fryin' your   
   veins."   
      
   In a 2-1 ruling that overturned the verdict, an appellate court   
   noted that, similar to admitting evidence of prior crimes,   
   caution must be exercised when allowing prior writings as   
   evidence in a trial. The judges also wrote that the lyrics   
   weren't necessary to buttress the state's case.   
      
   "This was not a case in which circumstantial evidence of   
   defendant's writings were critical to show his motive," the   
   majority wrote. "Nor was such evidence important to show that   
   defendant had the intent to kill Peterson, which the State was   
   required to establish to prove attempted murder. This brutal   
   shooting bespoke intent to kill."   
      
   Judge Carmen Alvarez wrote in a dissenting opinion that the   
   lyrics' relevance in showing motive and intent outweighed their   
   prejudicial effect on the jury, and that "defendant's songs   
   narrated events similar to the conduct which resulted in the   
   charged offenses."   
      
   In its brief, the ACLU said that an analysis of similar cases in   
   other states found that in 14 of 18 instances, judges allowed   
   rap lyrics to be admitted as evidence. The brief urges the   
   Supreme Court to toughen the standards for admitting lyrics as   
   evidence in a trial.   
      
   "We're not saying song lyrics can never be evidence, but that   
   there needs to be a direct connection to the crimes," said   
   Jeanne LoCicero, deputy legal director of the ACLU New Jersey.   
      
   The Burlington County prosecutor's office, which is to argue the   
   case before the Supreme Court, declined to comment on the case.   
      
   http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/03/02/rap-lyrics-at-heart-   
   attempted-murder-case-in-new-jersey/   
      
       
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)