The Six Million Dollar Man

Some new case law is now setting a precedent in the United States. Prior to the disposition of any of the cases filed against the officers charged with the murder of Freddie Gray, of Baltimore, Maryland, the government has agreed to settle with Freddie Gray's family to the tune of 6.4 million for wrongful death. It appears that immunity has been replaced by accountability. While not as much as might be won by going to court, rather than settling, it still looks to be a suggestion of culpability on the part of the state.

Unexplored Anonymous Tip In Kendrick Johnson's Death

Now that the investigation into Kendrick Johnson's untimely death has been closed, and Lowndes County sheriff, Stryde Jones, is insisting that some anonymous testimony that was sent to his office via email is "not credible", Kendrick's parents have filed suit against the Lowndes County Board Of Education in Georgia for wrongful death. This is appropriate, although it would have been more appropriate to conduct a thorough investigation. The tip was anonymous, but that does not mean that probable cause for searches, more interviews, and analysis of DNA and fingerprint evidence does not exist. In fact, this death is speculated to be the result of a white assailant against Kendrick, who was black. We all know that if it was the other way around, the sheriff and the court would have conducted a real investigation and answers would have resulted.

Here is a question about Stryde Jones and his statement that the anonymous tip "isn't credible": just how the hell does Stryde KNOW the tip isn't credible? How does he KNOW that he does not have to pursue this tip, the same way other law enforcement agencies pursue tips? There really is only one way this sheriff would know these things, and that is if he already knows who killed Kendrick Johnson. Which begs the question, who is Sheriff Stryde Jones, of Lowndes County Georgia, protecting?

More on this in a day or two.

George Zimmerman Is Scared Of Vigilante Justice

George Zimmerman has been found not guilty of the second degree murder of Trayvon Martin in Florida, and now he is worried about vigilante justice. Why didn't he worry about vigilante justice before he confronted Martin? The media has covered a lot of material today about the verdict in the trial, and about possible riots, and racism, but there remains one question does not appear to have been properly answered by Zimmerman, or by anyone else. That question is, why didn't Zimmerman just leave Martin alone and stop following him when the police dispatcher told him to stop? George Zimmerman is not a police officer, and often enough, civilians who interfere with police officers, or even look like they might be thinking about interfering with police officers but have not actually done so, get arrested and/or shot, so why did Zimmerman think he was special the night of the shooting? That question was not properly revisited during the trial, and if Zimmerman had simply done what law enforcement asked him to do, Martin would still be alive.

Now that Zimmerman has been found not guilty, he should be getting back to work, which is probably a good thing, because there is plenty of ground for a wrongful death suit to be filed, against the gated community where Martin was staying with his father, the neighborhood watch that chose Zimmerman in the first place, and George Zimmerman, himself. The guidelines for proof are not as stringent in civil court as they are in criminal court, and there is a good chance that a defendant may be found responsible for wrongful death in civil court. That would mean that a good paying job would be essential, especially of the defendant is Zimmerman. Hopefully, vigilante justice will not play as heavy of a role in the future as it apparently did on the night a seventeen year old accidently looked like someone a neighborhood watch dude might not like.

Meanwhile, here is another matter that Florida should reopen: