From: delledg@jake.cc.wayne.edu (De Vaughn Elledge)
Subject: Re: Detroit Killer Cops to Stand Trial
Reply-To: delledg@jake.cc.wayne.edu
Organization: Wayne State University, Detroit, MI 48202
Date: Thu, 21 Jan 1993 22:02:13 GMT

In article 15000@midway.uchicago.edu, nelshou1@cicero.spc.uchicago.edu (Roger Shouse) writes:
=>Just to set the record straight, there is no chance, nada, none, that
=>this trial will be held at Cobo Hall.  Nor should it.  Mob rule kangaroo
=>trials accomplish nothing.  Also, while it's true that there are many
=>Simi Valley type locales around Detroit, the prosecutor in this case
=>will not permit this trial to be moved to one.  However, in all fairness,
=>the trial should be moved out of the city--to Pontiac, Ann Arbor, or 
=>another city with representative populations.  This should occur for
=>two reasons:  first, the mayor of Detroit has already prononced the
=>officers guilty; second, the defense will make the argument that jurrors
=>would find it extremely difficult to cast a not guilty vote -- even if
=>that's what they truly believed was just -- because they would know that
=>a not guilty verdict would very likely lead to a burning city.
=>
	I agree this trial shouldn't be held at Cobo Hall and I also believe
that this trial shouldn't be moved. For the simple fact, If I beat someone
to death, regardless of color, I would be tried in the city in which the crime
was committed. Even if the media trumpped it up by showing it every day and it
appeared on David Letterman as one of the top ten things not to do, my trial
would not be moved. The mayor of Detroit pronounced them guilty after reviewing
the evidence, he didn't just hear it then shout off his mouth. What will make
it difficult to pass a not guilty vote, is the FACT that the officers waved
off the first EMS unit that arrived while beatting him also the FACT that he
was already handcuffed before the beating started has already done that! There
is no two ways around it and Detroit isn't buying it!

=>Another problem in this case is that the prosecution made the mistake of
=>charging these officers with first degree murder.  If the case does get
=>moved out of Detroit, it will be very difficult to convince 12 honest
=>jurrors that Green's killing was premeditated.
=>
       O.K. no lets look at this a moment. It might not be premeditated but it
is MURDER. These are people who are trained to know better than to do what they
did and that makes it even worse!!

=>Finally, a small clarification.  The term "Starsky and Hutch" is a 
=>generic one in Detroit.  It's generally used in reference to any
=>white cop two-man team, not just the officers in this case.
=>

  I'm sorry but your small clarification is totally off the mark. The term
"Starsky and Hutch" was and still is used to refer to two specific cops being
from Detroit. A generic terms used in Detroit to refer to Police officers in
Detroit are "the Boys", "five-oh", "Hook", "Law", and the oldie but goodie
Salt and Pepper is the only one used to describe the officers themselves. Also,
being from the street, a nick-name like that had to be earned, if these officers
were just two ordinary officers that weren't from the area, just weren't known
for brutality, or just saw to many Rodney King videos and decided to try the
neighbor hood would have refered to them as the Boys, or simply "They".

=>Roger Shouse
=>University of Chicago

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 		       	    - De Vaughn A. Elledge -
delledg@jake.cc.wayne.edu               	        delledg@cms.cc.wayne.edu 
			Wayne State University, DETROIT MI

The new Rodney King watch! It won't stop tick'n til the charges start stick'n


Newsgroups: soc.culture.african.american,alt.rap