This is why I don’t believe in the legitimacy of due process
BY Herschel Smith
12 months ago
A jury in Texas on Tuesday convicted a man of murdering a local police officer in a case that pitted no-knock raids against the right to self-defense.
Marvin Guy, who waited in jail for over nine years before his trial, was found guilty of murdering Detective Charles Dinwiddie, whom Guy said he mistook for an intruder after a SWAT team in 2014 smashed his bedroom window and tried to break into his home with a battering ram during a 5:45 a.m. drug raid. The panel declined, however, to convict him of capital murder and instead opted for murder, meaning they did not agree—at least not unanimously—that Guy knew he was shooting at law enforcement.
The raid was the product of a no-knock warrant, which police pursued in response to a tip that Guy had been dealing cocaine, and which allowed them to break into Guy’s apartment without first identifying themselves.
On May 9, 2014, before the sun rose, about two dozen officers arrived at Guy’s residence. The team struggled to fully penetrate the door with their battering ram; something was blocking it from behind. One officer accidentally detonated his stun grenade, inflaming what was already a raid rapidly going awry.
Guy, who lived in a high-crime area, said he was woken up and assumed the police were criminals trying to break into his home. He had allegedly been on edge about such a situation: One of his neighbors had reportedly been victimized similarly a week before when an intruder choked her after forcing entry by way of her first-floor window. Guy allegedly hit four officers, killing Dinwiddie and prompting police to fire over 40 rounds in return.
The prosecution, however, theorized that Guy had somehow come to know the police were coming and that he’d set a trap to “ambush” them.
I hear it again and again and again and again, and it’s just as silly every time I hear it. Due process. Let a judge issue a warrant. I’d rather be judged by a jury of peers than carried by pall bearers. Americans have the right of due process. Gun confiscation laws are okay as long as the government has followed due process requirements.
This example is why I don’t believe you can trust due process or any aspect of the American judicial system. It doesn’t matter whether he was dealing cocaine. It doesn’t matter if they wanted to play soldier boy that early morning. If they had wanted to grab evidence, they could have waited until daylight and monitored him for movement from the home and then gone in and grabbed whatever they wanted.
As it stands, a cop is dead and he will be in prison for much of the rest of his life.
And here’s the thing. A prosecutor and jury did all of this by intent. The prosecutor wanted him in prison because we can’t have men defending their homes, not even in Texas. The jury followed all instructions given to them by a corrupt judge.
There’s your due process. How do you like it? If someone slams their way into your home, lay down and submit. You cannot defend your family because you may go to prison.
Again, how do you like this?
On November 22, 2023 at 11:12 pm, Reader said:
“The jury followed all instructions…”
EHHHH Wrong!
There are no instructions to ne given to a jury.
Present the Facts.
After that, it’s up to the jury to decide.
Not…Follow Instructions.
Thats…Just Theater.
They never want someone like myself on a jury in a case like that.
This NO KNOCK raid while sleeping bs.
Is just that.
I dont care What there screaming.
The net is filled with hime invasions with the same SOP.
I’d find him not guilty, send him home.
On November 22, 2023 at 11:25 pm, Herschel Smith said:
The judge does indeed give instructions to juries. It happens all day every day.
Maybe not for you if you’re on a jury, but then they’d never let you be on a jury.
Have you ever been? Do you know the sorts of morons that get chosen for juries? Do you want your life in their hands?
On November 23, 2023 at 6:52 am, dirtroads said:
We are at an extraordinarily dangerous point. When law abiding citizens realize there is no real justice system, that they have no clear pathway to justice and resolution, that simply protecting themselves and/or their family will likely result result in their own imprisonment or death, they must consider that any interaction with the system is a detriment.
This leaves little choice but to withdraw from said system as it is a farce. Participating in it simply lends credence to a broken process that affords citizens no protection, no justice. Why would free men respect this farce and voluntarily participate in it, when one knows the outcome? Why would someone agree to be “judged by peers” when the outcomes are pre-determined?
We seem to be fulfilling most criteria of failed state. There will be no “justice” in such a setting. Plan accordingly.
On November 23, 2023 at 8:21 am, Latigo Morgan said:
“Jury of your peers” = people too bored or too stupid to get out of jury duty.
Yeah, there may be some good folks still doing their civic duty, but they are few and far between.
On November 23, 2023 at 8:50 am, PGF said:
The process is the punishment.
On November 23, 2023 at 9:50 am, Bill Buppert said:
Coproaches are not only the bloody spear-tip of ALL political action but the entire judicial system relies on them as the primary harvesting tool for new meat in the probation, parole and cage colossus in the FUSA.
Fugitive slave catchers 2.0.
They serve the dual role of yet another maw of the government to feed with endless money and keeps the proles fearful and obedient.
On November 23, 2023 at 10:47 am, Dirk Williams said:
Jury’s instructions are indeed law, read to the paneled jury prior to deliberation.
Jury’s instruction have almost zero to do with the elements of the crime allegedly committed.
The officer present the facts as learned via an investigation, proves the elements of the crime was in deed committed.
The judge then provides a set of jury’s instructions to the jury for consideration.
It’s always been a mystery to me exactly which set of facts the jury uses to determine guilt or other.
It’s a hella of a system!
Dirk
On November 23, 2023 at 1:06 pm, scott s. said:
Spent a year on a grand jury and one misdemeanor trial jury. I would say it’s pretty much your average person on a jury. The instructions define what facts must be proven to reach a guilty verdict as a matter of law.
On November 23, 2023 at 5:07 pm, Steady Steve said:
This could be reversed on appeal by a good attorney. They are attempting to hold this man to a higher standard than a ” trained, professional” police officer. If a cop “accidentally” shoots someone during a no knock raid there is essentially no penalty. So to say that this man did any differently is wrong. That’s how you can create the necessary doubt in a jurors’ mind and make both the cops and prosecutor look like idiots. I would have voted not guilty just because of the prosecution’s ridiculous theory of pre knowledge of the raid. You must remember that if you are ever a juror, that the attorneys ARE NOT UNDER OATH AND CAN KNOWINGLY LIE.
On November 24, 2023 at 3:05 am, Grumpy57 said:
Living in TX, and being called for jury duty, I asked the judge about “jury nullification”. BAM!! Gavel came down hard, “son, there is no jury nullification in Texas.”
I haven’t been called back since….. over 10 years ago…..
On November 25, 2023 at 2:46 pm, Ned said:
You can’t get a jury of your peers. If they’re actual peers, they won’t survive voir dire, unless they lie.
On November 25, 2023 at 10:38 pm, Dan said:
If the process is corrupt then the results are corrupt. If the process is honest and lawful then the results are just. The problem is our legal system is totally corrupt, has been for decades. Justice has NOT been the intended outcome of the system for decades. The legal system now exists solely as a mechanism of control. Time to burn it ALL down, hang ALL of it’s adherents and minions an then start over. Nothing else will solve the problem.