DA Deters is on a witch hunt with the Ray Tensing trial. Tensing is the white former University of Cincinnati police officer who shot and killed a loser who was resisting the officer during a traffic stop. Deters brought First Degree Murder charges against Tensing last July to buy-off the black civil-unrest crowd in Cincinnati. And Deters was successful in postponing the first Tensing trial until after the 2016 elections. That trial ended in a mistrial two weeks ago at the cost of $1m to Hamilton County. (Then there is the $4.5m paid the loser's family. Before a verdict.)
It was announced today that Deters has decided to try the case again.
It has become personal.
And what is another million in county funds?
My post on the Ray Tensing shooting.
The unedited body-cam footage of the shooting.
My comments about this shooting in my August 2015 American Thinker article: Cincinnati's Race Problem:
. . . a white University of Cincinnati police officer, Ray Tensing, shot and killed Samuel Debose, a black man trying to flee a traffic stop with two pounds of marijuana, several thousand dollars of drug money and a suspended license. In a very unusual display of panic and submission, the officer was immediately fired, and was charged with murder by prosecutor Joseph Deters (R) who weighed in on the shooting as “an asinine act” by someone who “should never have been a police officer.” I’m no lawyer, but I think those comments are unbecoming of a prosecutor and public official. While I believe the officer was criminally negligent, I think Deters is reaching with his murder charge. This charge has less to do with justice than with postponing racial violence. Deter’s irresponsible comments subject that officer to an unfair judicial process. He also set a precedent for how the government will likely react to questionable police actions in the future.
The leaders of Cincinnati sent a clear message of bias and fear, both of which embolden the criminal masses who consider violence and intimidation as options in this crisis-as-a-means race war. Dieter’s office had amassed as many as 75 charges against Dubose over the years. They chose to hold the behavior of a white person at a far higher standard than that of a black person. One can only conclude that in Cincinnati, if a white person commits a crime against a black person, and the crime attracts national media attention, he will be considered guilty until proven innocent.
I would break the Internet if I shared all my opinions on this debacle in a single post. So while I some more below, believe me, I'm just scratching the surface.
One does not have to be a lawyer to know that the loser's death does not qualify as First Degree Murder. For one, it wasn't premeditated. Yet Deters insists on that charge mostly to buy-off the violent urban youth who'll take their disagreements out into the streets. Deters knows this, because he has also added the charge of Voluntary Manslaughter. How about that? One dead body, two dead-body charges. Why not Involuntary Manslaughter and 2nd Degree Murder charges too? One charge is an abuse of his office. The other, while more appropriate, is not driven by the need for justice, but instead a way for an over-reaching DA to save face. My guess is the urban youth will not view a Voluntary Manslaughter guilty verdict as justice when it is in the shadow of a First Degree Murder acquittal.
Deters had another police shooting cross his desk this past May. You can see the shooting video here. In this case, a black police officer shoots a fleeing bank robber in the back. Twice. Deters found no fault in this officer's actions. No charges, and the officer kept his job.
I expect Deters to do in trial #2 what he did in trial #1:
- Deny Tensing's defense from showing the loser's extensive criminal history,
- Deny Tensing's defense to list the drugs and drug money found in his vehicle, and
- Deny Tensing's defense to explore the dangers all officers face in traffic stops where the driver ignores the officer's orders, resists, and attempts to flee.
The leadership of Cincinnati and Hamilton County will continue to postpone the reckoning with as many sacrificed officers, citizens, tax dollars, whatever, as necessary. When it can't be postponed any longer, we'll have our share of hair-extension thefts and burned businesses. Then, like Cincinnati did after the 2001 race riots, the city will build another ugly, unused and useless white-guilt monument like the "Freedom Center" which was finished in 2004.
(Another result of the 2001 riots: Ohio reluctantly passed its concealed carry law.)
For the record:
I think it would have been appropriate for Tensing to face Involuntary Manslaughter charges. Traffic stops should not end with dead bodies. Only that charge, and only once. If found guilty, he then should have lost his job and the city/county should have paid damages. I think the world became a better place when that loser was shot dead.
I think the bank shooting was handled correctly. Police officers shooting violent criminals in the back is fine with me. The world became a better place when that loser was shot dead.
I think Deters should end the charade and change his party affiliation to Democrat. And if he loses trial #2, or it ends in a mistrial too, he should resign.
I think everybody in Cincinnati's government should stop walking on egg shells and start treating everyone equally, regardless of skin color. I think Cincinnati's police officers deserve the benefit of the doubt and a fair defense. And drop the white guilt. It is unseemly.
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CNN just posted the story, with video.
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