AAFitz wrote:Again though....in the OJ Simpson case...
Guilty?
Was there evidence?
Did the innocent verdict mean the evidence was fantasy?
I'm not really sure why you bring up OJ, but since you did, OJ was rightfully acquitted.
-Guilty? I have no idea, but after what the cops did with the evidence it became quite impossible to convict OJ on those charges.
-Was there evidence? There was some, but the most important evidence was so badly tainted and mishandled by the cops, even if were I on that jury I would have acquitted him. Cops can't do that type of shit.
-Was the evidence fantasy? The most important evidence in the case was the blood evidence. Namely that OJ's blood was found at the scene, was that fantasy? What the cops did, it sure as hell could very well have been.
Some blood was supposedly found at the scene (not the victims). The samples were collected, and supposed to be immediately entered and turned into evidence (as per proper chain of evidence rules). It wasn't. The detective took the sample, put them in his pocket and it was more than 24 hours later when those samples were actually taken in. Before that blood evidence was turned in properly, a sample of OJ's blood was taken from him.
Because of the detective not following procedure and keeping the chain of evidence on the up and up, it's quite possible that the supposed blood evidence found at the scene was actually taken from OJ himself and then entered as found at the scene. We can't know for sure because the stupid cops screwed up so badly.
How would you like it if someone accused you of a crime, claim that blood evidence was found at the scene and ask you for a sample of your blood to compare. You give the sample and then find out your blood was found at the scene, and then find out that the blood evidence collected placing you at the scene was turned in
after you gave your blood to the cops?
Do you see how bad that looks?
I bet you'd be pissed. I bet your lawyer would have a field day with that. I bet you'd get that evidence throw right out of court. I'd bet you'd claim that the police's evidence was indeed fantasy, no, scratch that, corrupt as hell and a lie.
And any reasonable person would agree with you.
So I suppose the OJ case and the Zimmerman case are similar in only that the authorities grossly screwed up.
In Zimmerman's case, it was the prosecution who screwed the pooch, over charging (which in unethical and immoral), misrepresented evidence, lied, changed the charges at the last minute without giving the defense any time to argue against and expected the jury to base their judgment on emotion rather than on duty and actual evidence.
And as for evidence of a hate crime in the Zimmerman case, there is no evidence of that. Was there evidence of such a thing that was simply not discovered? I have no idea, but it was a rather intense investigation and since no evidence of such nature was found it's not very logical or fair to assume there must have been evidence. Hate crime really has not a thing to do with the Zimmerman case at all.
But who ever killed Nicole Simpson and Goldman sure as hell had a lot of hate in their hearts to butcher two human beings like that. Might not have been a racial hate, but one would need to have a lot of hate built up inside themselves to do what was done to those two.
But these things tend to work themselves out in the long run. OJ is in jail now, and will be pretty much until the day he dies. Zimmerman, he's on the same road it seems. If he really was guilty of a crime then he will face the justice one way or another, in this life or the next.
I'm with TGD, hate crime legislation is wrong. I'm against said legislation because it puts more value on one person's life over another.
If a white guy shoots another white guy while screaming "Die Mother F*cker!" would get less of a sentence than a white guy shooting a black guy while screaming "Die N******!"
Both of them should face the exact same jail time. Both had hate in their hearts, and since most violent crime involves some degree of hate one way or another, well, what's the point in saying one type of hate is worse than another type of hate? It's all hatred. IMO.