Three Chicago police officers have been found “Not guilty” of conspiracy, obstruction of justice, and official misconduct in their actions following the murder of Laquan McDonald five years ago. NBC News reports:
Three Chicago police officers were found not guilty on all charges that they conspired to protect their colleague who shot and killed teenager Laquan McDonald in 2014.
Officer Thomas Gaffney, ex-Officer Joseph Walsh and former Detective David March were acquitted on charges of conspiracy, obstruction of justice and official misconduct by Cook County Judge Domenica Stephenson.
“This court finds that the state has failed to meet its burden on all charges,” Stephenson ruled. “Defendants are discharged.”
The defendants, who each faced up to five years behind bars, were all involved in the probe following officer Jason Van Dyke’s killing of McDonald.
The three officers opted against having a jury hear their case, and instead asked for a bench trial, leaving their fate in the hands of Judge Stephenson.
All that this really tells us is that it is very, very difficult to convict a police officer of anything in Chicago. One of the things it does not tell us is how the community will react. We’re probably lucky it’s predicted to be the coldest weekend of the year so far.
This will do nothing to improve the reputation of the CPD or improve its relationship with the community.
Speaking of hard to convict……..
John Solomon’s article makes clear that the FBI and entire DoJ was well aware that HRC hired Steele to construct the “dossier.” It is clear they all knew it was suspect before they went to the FISA Court, and failed to disclose that.
Perhaps more importantly, it makes clear that Andrew Weissman knew, and therefore Mueller has known, all along that the very genesis of this whole sordid mess was based on political dirt seeking, and that he is pointed 180 degrees in the wrong direction. But Mueller is an honorable man, and I’m comfortable letting him proceed with his investigation. (snicker)
Agreed. If they couldn’t convict police in this case, it will be almost impossible to convict anyone.
OT- From the actual FISA warrant.
“Source #1, who now owns a foreign business/financial intelligence firm, was approached by an identified U.S. person, who indicated to Source #1 that a U.S.-base law firm had hired the identified U.S. person to conduct research regarding Candidate #1’s ties to Russia… The identified U.S. person hired Source #1 to conduct this research… The FBI speculates that the identified U.S. person was likely looking for information that could be used to discredit Candidate #1’s campaign.”
I suppose there is a judge somewhere who didn’t know who was campaigning against Candidate #1.
Steve
Nice try. FISA judges rotate. Their load is about 30 cases per week. Those familiar with the process note they basically rely on the authors of the request. Not footnotes.
But you conveniently ignore the obvious. The number four in the DoJ is telling people the, ahem, evidence, stinks. Further, you ignore that Weismann and therefore Mueller know this was based on crap, even while they fail to focus on the collusion activity.
But congratulations on Polly Parroting Dem talking points. Here’s a cracker……
LOL, so says the conservative parrot in chief. So your claim is there might have been another judge and they would not have known who was running against Trump? Its one thing to parrot talking points, but why are you using the stupid ones? Judges dont read footnotes? Really?
Mueller knew that it was initially based on the drunken Trump adviser’s words (Papadopolous). He also knows that some of the dossier has been confirmed. Now we have Manafort giving away campaign data. Yup, every campaign sends their data over to Eastern Europe.
Steve
OT- Trump and his economic advisers unwittingly made a big contribution to the ACA. They cant even competently sabotage existing programs. Couldn’t be bothered to read the details before they cut the program. This is one of the reasons I dont think he is bad a president as some claim. There just isn’t the competence or work ethic to get things done.
https://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2019/01/donald-trump-accidentally-gave-obamacare-more-money-now-he-wants-to-take-it-away/
Steve