• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Police officer charged in fatal shooting of Philando Castile

Status
Not open for further replies.

Lemonz

Member
http://www.startribune.com/ramsey-c...nnounce-update-in-castile-shooting/401484635/

Choi said it was his conclusion that “use of deadly force by Officer Yanez was not justified.” Yanez was charged Wednesday with second-degree manslaughter and two felony counts of dangerous discharge of a firearm.

Before Yanez, no officer had been charged in more than 150 police-involved deaths in Minnesota since 2000.
Choi said Wednesday he chose to make the decision on charging himself, rather than turning the case over to a grand jury.
 

WedgeX

Banned
Good.

+1

Seems to me that there's clear and convincing evidence, beyond reasonable doubt, that Philando Castile was murdered in cold blood.

Just to be clear...clear and convincing evidence is actually a lower legal threshold for guilt than beyond a reasonable doubt.
 

Biolink

Member
What's the maximum sentence? Couldn't be more than 10 years.

For firing into a car with his wife and especially a young kid this is very meh. There's always a chance he somehow beats it as well. Wouldn't be surprised with all of the fuckery going on nowadays.
 

-griffy-

Banned
What's the maximum sentence? Couldn't be more than 10 years.

For firing into a car with his wife and especially a young kid this is very meh. There's always a chance he somehow beats it as well. Wouldn't be surprised with all of the fuckery going on nowadays.

He's also going to be charged with endangering their lives, as per Washington Post:
John Choi, the Ramsey County attorney, said at a news conference in St. Paul, Minn., on Wednesday morning that Jeronimo Yanez, the officer who shot Castile, would also be charged with endangering the lives of Reynolds and her 4-year-old daughter, who was also in the car.
 

Ploid 3.0

Member
Good, and with the evidence this should be clear cut. Police should start being held accountable for their screw ups.
 

Kill3r7

Member
Good, and with the evidence this should be clear cut. Police should start being held accountable for their screw ups.

Please don't confuse what we know, as evidence that is admissible in court. Personally I would not be shocked if he beat it.
 
Just to be clear...clear and convincing evidence is actually a lower legal threshold for guilt than beyond a reasonable doubt.

Thanks for clarifying :)

While we agree there, at least manslaughter has a better chance to stick, since I don't think you have to prove intent and premeditation.

I'm conflicted, in that I want to see him prosecuted, and honestly convicted, to the full extent of the law, but I think that he should pay for his crime. In that way, I think that you're right. Get him into prison on what can actually GET him into prison.
 

Heshinsi

"playing" dumb? unpossible
Smart AG for not going the Grand Jury route. More often than not, it seems taking the case to a grand jury is a way for a Prosecutor to make it seem like they are doing their jobs, while knowing that the chances of actually going to trial are slim to none.
 
I went to the school many years ago that Philando worked at. Seems to have been a better cafeteria supervisor than the lady I had.

Hopefully justice prevails for once.
 

U2NUMB

Member
I want to first say that I am not a Lawyer and know very little.... BUT listening to a local station here in the Twin Cities right now where this is obviously a big story this afternoon.

They have a well known lawyer on and he is beside himself with the charges and smells something political that is not being exposed for what it is.

His opinion is that with a second degree Manslaughter case by definition it has to be an accident or not intentional. When you fire the gun 7 times it is well beyond accident or un intentional. He said that the charges SHOULD be Second Degree Murder by everything that was shared today.

His theory is that the lesser charges of firing a weapon within city limits are what will be pled down to ultimately form lesser charges.

He said the crazy facts are based on the current charges are that he could take the stand and say "by no means was it an accident, I meant to kill him" and he would by definition and the current charges be let off on the spot and would not be able to be charged again.

He was super fired up and made a compelling argument that due to the lack of public knowledge of the law it sounds good to come out with this charge but it in no way reflects what we know of the case. That 7 shots is what moves it from accident to intentional.

Anyways just wanted to report what I heard and if so its some shady shit.
 

HeySeuss

Member
His opinion is that with a second degree Manslaughter case by definition it has to be an accident or not intentional. When you fire the gun 7 times it is well beyond accident or un intentional. He said that the charges SHOULD be Second Degree Murder by everything that was shared today.
I disagree with this on a couple of levels. Manslaughter is the appropriate charge no matter how much we would wish that he be charged with murder. For one, we saw that with the officer that killed Sam DuBose. He was charged with murder and it resulted in a hung jury because it doesn't exactly meet the elements of the crime. 7 shots versus 2 shots makes no difference when deciding intent. Under stress, even a highly trained officer can have such tunnel vision that they may not even hear the weapon being fired. They may intend to shoot, but there have been multiple occasions documented where they believe their gun is jammed even though the gun fired normally. No level of training can predict how your body responds to the stress and adrenaline.

His theory is that the lesser charges of firing a weapon within city limits are what will be pled down to ultimately form lesser charges.

Possibly true, but the prosecution would have to make that a possibility. I doubt that will be on the table here.

He said the crazy facts are based on the current charges are that he could take the stand and say "by no means was it an accident, I meant to kill him" and he would by definition and the current charges be let off on the spot and would not be able to be charged again.

Absolutely stupid here. This will never happen for one very obvious reason. Officers are not trained to shoot to kill. We are trained to shoot to stop the threat. There is zero chance of him stating on the stand that he intended to kill this man. His lawyer would never allow it and no officer anywhere would ever make that statement.

He was super fired up and made a compelling argument that due to the lack of public knowledge of the law it sounds good to come out with this charge but it in no way reflects what we know of the case. That 7 shots is what moves it from accident to intentional.

Anyways just wanted to report what I heard and if so its some shady shit.

Again the number of shots has no bearing. You can shoot an entire magazine of bullets in less than 3 seconds. That doesn't prove anything.
 

Kill3r7

Member
I want to first say that I am not a Lawyer and know very little.... BUT listening to a local station here in the Twin Cities right now where this is obviously a big story this afternoon.

They have a well known lawyer on and he is beside himself with the charges and smells something political that is not being exposed for what it is.

His opinion is that with a second degree Manslaughter case by definition it has to be an accident or not intentional. When you fire the gun 7 times it is well beyond accident or un intentional. He said that the charges SHOULD be Second Degree Murder by everything that was shared today.

His theory is that the lesser charges of firing a weapon within city limits are what will be pled down to ultimately form lesser charges.

He said the crazy facts are based on the current charges are that he could take the stand and say "by no means was it an accident, I meant to kill him" and he would by definition and the current charges be let off on the spot and would not be able to be charged again.

He was super fired up and made a compelling argument that due to the lack of public knowledge of the law it sounds good to come out with this charge but it in no way reflects what we know of the case. That 7 shots is what moves it from accident to intentional.

Anyways just wanted to report what I heard and if so its some shady shit.

It is always easy to argue what a DA should have done when you don't have any skin in the game.

1) Murder in the second is the sort of charge you would want to run past a grand jury if you want to continue being a DA. Also, it is a much, much harder case to prove as we saw in Baltimore.

2) It is hard to prove the mens rea requirement for murder in the second.
 
This is going to become a lot less common soon.

Yep. Somehow even though many of the recent cases have been dismissed with mistrials, and non convictions, it's still gonna become harder to get justice. Hell I wouldn't be surprised if settlements with families went away as well.
 
Yeah but the chances of that are slim, just look at Sam DuBose's murder trial.
Edit: Although the cop isn't white so there might not be an immediate rush to exonerate him.

Of course, we could end up with another Peter Liang situation where there's an immediate circling of the wagons around their now-'scapegoat' for centuries of oppression, and cries of a double standard not working in the favor of nonwhite officers.

Meanwhile the body count rises and nobody is really accountable. :(
 
Yeah but the chances of that are slim, just look at Sam DuBose's murder trial.
Edit: Although the cop isn't white so there might not be an immediate rush to exonerate him.

??

it's not just White male cops involved in these shootings. Cops of all races have been involded.
 

Enzom21

Member
??

it's not just White male cops involved in these shootings. Cops of all races have been involded.

Where did I write "white cops are the only ones involved in shootings"?
Non-white cops don't usually get the same defense white cops get.
Look at the Eric Garner case. Only cop charged was a black woman who didn't touch Eric Garner.
 
As expected.

Philando deserved justice. And was slighted by the same country who wants to preach to Cuba about fucking human rights.

Fuck.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom