4 ms·

Reminds me of the killing of Ken McElroy[0] >In all, there were 46 potential witnesses to the shooting, including Trena McElroy, who was in the truck with her

by daenz 4y ago

Reminds me of the killing of Ken McElroy[0] >In all, there were 46 potential witnesses to the shooting, including Trena McElroy, who was in the truck with her husband when he was shot. No one called for an ambulance. Only Trena claimed to identify a gunman; every other witness either was unable to name an assailant or claimed not to have seen who fired the fatal shots. The DA declined to press charges. An extensive federal investigation did not lead to any charges. Missouri-based journalist Steve Booher described the attitude of some townspeople as "He needed killing." 0. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_McElroy#1981_killing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_McElroy#1981_killing

SpikedCola 4y ago
Highly recommend the Criminal Podcast episode on Ken McElroy https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-66-bully/id809264944?i=1000385113722 https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-66-bully/id809...
nominusllc 4y ago
Sometimes it do be like that though.
- eru 4y ago
  The justice system is supposed to apply to all.
  - hoseja 4y ago
    Well it seemingly didn't apply to the guy who seems to have escaped 20+ convictions by... intimidating witnesses? Frankly bizarre.
    - eru 4y ago
      Just looking at the 20+ number and without further context, we can't say whether he was falsely accused escaped the convictions because the justice system worked for once, or whether he was correctly accused, and escaped the convictions because the justice system had false negatives. (Looking at the rest of the Wikipedia entry, I am very sympathetic to the latter point of view.)
drewcoo 4y ago
Or Emmett Till. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emmett_Till https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emmett_Till
spoonjim 4y ago
- jker 4y ago
  The problem is, plenty of other people agree with you, except they consider you to be in that 0.25%.
  - spoonjim 4y ago
    Of course. I think the real measure of who that 0.25% is though, are the ones where if someone McElroyed you, an entire town of 40 people would stay silent about it.
    - masklinn 4y ago
      In the south it used to be an entire town of hundreds would show up for a lynching and take pictures and a picnic below the tree. Emmett Till’s river site memorial plaque had to be replaced by a bulletproof 500lbs one to slow down its vandalism. In 2019. Before that it had to be replaced 3 times, once because it was removed and tosse in the river, and the other 2 times due to damage from being shot at. It had been first erected in 2008. Jury nullification is very much a two-edged blade, it’s been used against the Fugitive Slaves Act (this sort of acts was a big reason why the south decided to secede) and it’s been used, a lot, to protect racist murderers.
      - shadowgovt 4y ago
        It's really worth noting how much the nature of law in the US changed after the Civil War. So much so that you can think of post-1868 US as a fundamentally different country, legally, than pre-1868. The big change is that the Civil War demonstrated the shortcomings of state-level interpretation of law, and with the 14th Amendment, a wide swath of such interpretation was barred. And, indeed, plenty of people think the old way was better. Why they think the old way was better is always worth observing with a critical eye.

by daenz 4y ago

SpikedCola 4y ago

Highly recommend the Criminal Podcast episode on Ken McElroy https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-66-bully/id809264944?i=1000385113722 https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-66-bully/id809...

nominusllc 4y ago

Sometimes it do be like that though.

eru 4y ago
The justice system is supposed to apply to all.
- hoseja 4y ago
  Well it seemingly didn't apply to the guy who seems to have escaped 20+ convictions by... intimidating witnesses? Frankly bizarre.
  - eru 4y ago
    Just looking at the 20+ number and without further context, we can't say whether he was falsely accused escaped the convictions because the justice system worked for once, or whether he was correctly accused, and escaped the convictions because the justice system had false negatives. (Looking at the rest of the Wikipedia entry, I am very sympathetic to the latter point of view.)

drewcoo 4y ago

Or Emmett Till. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emmett_Till https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emmett_Till

spoonjim 4y ago

jker 4y ago
The problem is, plenty of other people agree with you, except they consider you to be in that 0.25%.
- spoonjim 4y ago
  Of course. I think the real measure of who that 0.25% is though, are the ones where if someone McElroyed you, an entire town of 40 people would stay silent about it.
  - masklinn 4y ago
    In the south it used to be an entire town of hundreds would show up for a lynching and take pictures and a picnic below the tree. Emmett Till’s river site memorial plaque had to be replaced by a bulletproof 500lbs one to slow down its vandalism. In 2019. Before that it had to be replaced 3 times, once because it was removed and tosse in the river, and the other 2 times due to damage from being shot at. It had been first erected in 2008. Jury nullification is very much a two-edged blade, it’s been used against the Fugitive Slaves Act (this sort of acts was a big reason why the south decided to secede) and it’s been used, a lot, to protect racist murderers.
    - shadowgovt 4y ago
      It's really worth noting how much the nature of law in the US changed after the Civil War. So much so that you can think of post-1868 US as a fundamentally different country, legally, than pre-1868. The big change is that the Civil War demonstrated the shortcomings of state-level interpretation of law, and with the 14th Amendment, a wide swath of such interpretation was barred. And, indeed, plenty of people think the old way was better. Why they think the old way was better is always worth observing with a critical eye.