You can't have it both ways

Along with the prior theme of cops out of control, another major issue in our "criminal justice" system - an apt term, as the justice you get in our courts these days truly is criminal - is out of control prosecutors.

We all have heard of the Zimmerman/Martin case by now. Zimmerman, in spite of the best lies and manipulation the mainstream media could come up with, has been shown to have been defending himself from Trayvon Martin when Martin was smashing his head against the ground. The photos of his bleeding occiput, which the mainstream media refused to show, have been publicized. The courts will hopefully prove, via eye witnesses and forensic evidence, that Zimmerman was fighting for his life against a young black gangster. Photos of Martin in various gangster poses, with a "grill" of gold caps on his teeth that he obviously did not pay for with a newspaper route, along with gangster Facebook posts, indicate Trayvon was not your sweet, innocent young black child taken from his loving family by the big, bad white man (who is actually Hispanic, but "white Hispanic" according to such race baiters as Al Sharpton and his patron Barack Obama).

Yet the prosecutor who has decided to file charges against Zimmerman - in spite of the fact that the police did not arrest or charge him, and in spite of the fact that the prosecutor refuses to bring the matter in front of a grand jury - is pressing for manslaughter in a case that appears to be pretty certain to have been self-defense and a case of the "Stand Your Ground" doctrine. This prosecutor, Angela Corey, is likely attempting to get herself some free publicity and political mileage by taking Zimmerman in front of a judge and jury. A jury she probably hopes to stack - by manipulating "voir dire", the choosing of a panel of jurors - so as to seat some black and some liberal jurors who will lean toward convicting the big, bad, white Hispanic man.

Well, lo and behold, but Angela Corey prosecuted a black woman for firing a warning shot at her abusive husband, a man she claims tried to strangle her and threatened to kill her. In this case, the jury apparently either A) did not believe the woman, or B) - as is often the case - were given instructions by the judge that, if the "facts" of the case were proven, then the jurors must find the defendant guilty. In so many cases that are tried before a jury, the jurors find themselves voting for a conviction in spite of evidence being withheld, extenuating circumstances that the judge tells them they must ignore, or even when - as in this particular case, the punishment is outrageously extreme for the actions for which the defendant is being tried.

This lady, Marissa Alexander, was sentenced to 20 years for firing a warning shot, a shot which was not aimed at her abusive husband but into a wall, trying to get him to stay away from her. Even if her whole story was a lie, even if she had actually attempted to shoot him, twenty years in jail seems excessive when you consider how many people convicted of actual pre-meditated murder get out in seven years, while she shot a wall, not even wounding him.

However, this case does indicate that Angela Corey, the prosecutor, is more concerned with putting people in prison than she is with what color they are, so you have to give her some credit. The problem is, as with so many prosecutors these days, especially United States Attorneys, the "fun" is in putting people in prison. It doesn't matter to them if you had any intent to commit the crime - as was once the minimum requirement for prosecution.

This is called "mens rea", or "bad intent". It used to be that you had to have "actus rea", or a "bad act" in conjunction with "mens rea" in order to convict. You should have both present to even arrest. This hasn't been the case for many years now. Consider the Olofson case, where a man who loaned a rifle to another man went to prison for years because the rifle malfunctioned and fired more than one time when the trigger was pulled. In spite of the fact that the rifle was proven to have malfunctioned, and had not been altered or modified in order to get it to shoot more than one round when the trigger was pulled, Olofson lost his job, thousands of dollars in legal fees, and spent several years in prison, away from his wife and child. As a convicted felon, he also then found it difficult to get a job once he was released.

The prosecutor in that case knew that there was no intent, that it was mechanical malfunction. As a matter of fact, the BATF's own lab tested the rifle and determined it had merely malfunctioned. The BATF Special Agent involved, Jody Keeku (may the bitch rot in Hell), had the rifle sent back and tested with soft-primered ammunition, this time returning a "decision" that the rifle was indeed a machine gun. Assistant U.S. Attorney Greg Hannstad, who handled the prosecution of David Olofson, saw to it that the jury was not informed that the very model of rifle he was being convicted for had a recall notice issued by its manufacturer indicating worn parts or soft-primered ammunition could cause multiple firings when the trigger was pulled.

So. Bad cops, bad Special Agents, bad prosecutors and bad judges can all ruin your life. But in the case of this black woman, Marissa Alexander, the people who were overjoyed that Angela Corey is prosecuting George Zimmerman are not so happy that she prosecuted Marissa Alexander - who also tried to use the "Stand Your Ground" defense. Suddenly, Corey is a racist, harassing poor Ms. Alexander simply because she is black.

"The case, which was prosecuted by the same state attorney who is handling the Trayvon Martin case, has gained the attention of civil rights leaders who say the African-American woman was persecuted because of her race" according to an article written by CNN. Representative Corrine Brown, a woman who loves to play the race card, is upset. Evidently, it is OK for a black woman to "stand her ground", but not for a "white Hispanic" such as George Zimmerman. Too bad, you ignorant twit. You can't have it both ways.

Neither of them should have been prosecuted, and Alexander certainly shouldn't have been given a twenty year sentence for what she did, but I have to admit I was pleased to see Corrine Brown dissatisfied when the shoe was on the other foot. It just goes to prove her to be the hypocrite that she, and so many other black race baiters like Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Shirley Jackson, Eric Holder, and Barack Obama truly are.