This idea that only white people are allowed to avail themselves of the claim of self-defense, or that they can largely just do whatever and get away with it by claiming self-defense, is absurd: a thread.
Jaleel Stallings was acquitted of multiple attempted murder charges related to him shooting at several St. Paul police officers last summer. He [reasonably] claimed self-defense and that he had no idea these guys were cops.
kstp.com/news/saint-pau…
It took the jury only four hours instead of four days to acquit Stephen Spencer of murder in a white man's death during a race-related dispute. Spencer claimed self-defense.
apnews.com/article/north-…
Timothy Simpkins, an 18-year-old who shot three people with an illegally possessed gun at a Texas high school, is literally out on bond right now and claiming he shot in self-defense. Honestly, he has a viable claim wrt to the intended target.
nypost.com/2021/10/07/sus…
Dolores White stabbed her daughter's boyfriend to death. Acquitted on the theory of self-defense.
goerie.com/story/news/cri…
Trey Adams stabbed a high school classmate to death. Acquitted for? You guessed it - acting in self-defense.
journalinquirer.com/crime_and_cour…
Jesus Lima. Prosecutors argued he was the aggressor who shot a man he'd previously threatened. The jury sided with Lima, who said he was attacked by the man and four others and tried to retreat.
mercurynews.com/2021/01/28/in-…
Tony Bristol, a nightclub security guard, was acquitted after claiming self-defense in the shooting deaths of two unarmed patrons.
clarksvillenow.com/local/verdict-…
Letoya Ramseure. Claimed self-defense in the fatal shooting of her boyfriend. Acquitted on all charges.
inquirer.com/news/philadelp…
I could go on and on.
Andre Roy. abc13.com/neiman-marcus-…
Kenneth Ray Smith. nondoc.com/2021/10/25/ken…
Nehemiah Martin. 10tv.com/article/news/l…
Literally Simone Biles' brother. nytimes.com/2021/06/16/us/…
Rapper Dababy. thefader.com/2019/03/30/cha…
And there are plenty of white people who have been convicted of super questionable offenses where I thought self-defense was a viable claim. Case in point, Michael Strickland: oregonlive.com/portland/2017/…
And Michael Drejka: washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/08…
tl;dr - your race-baiting narratives about self-defense claims in the American legal system are hot trash, all sound and fury, signifying nothing.
Literally today, at almost the same time as the Rittenhouse verdict:
wpbf.com/article/andrew…
But wait, there's more:
Naeem Davis. dnainfo.com/new-york/20170…
Alex Hughes. chicago.cbslocal.com/2019/11/17/wal…
Mychael Jenkins. daytondailynews.com/news/local/def…
James Nero. fox8live.com/2019/12/18/zur…
Darreonta Reynolds. roanoke.com/news/crime/rey…
I'm still on single digit pages of a basic Google search.
Ansumana Jadama. archive.sltrib.com/article.php?id…
Kyla Nundley. freep.com/story/news/loc…
Keith Luncheon. nydailynews.com/new-york/brook…
Tearri Richard. mercurynews.com/2017/01/27/rar…
Naquann Ware. cantonrep.com/story/news/202…
Marcus Weldon. detroitnews.com/story/news/loc…
Tabias Davis. southbendtribune.com/story/news/cri…
Rodney West. firststateupdate.com/2019/11/towne-…
Tyshawn Plowden, dailygazette.com/2018/11/02/man…
Gabriel Chavez. elpasotimes.com/story/news/cri…
Did we think I was done because I'm really not.
Sangsouriyanh Maniphonh. syracuse.com/crime/2017/06/…
Enrique Quiniones. kget.com/news/crime-wat…
Saeve Evans. washingtonpost.com/local/public-s…
Odell Allen. al.com/news/birmingha…
Wayne Isaacs. abc7ny.com/east-new-york-…
How about some where charges were dropped before trial based on self-defense?
Joshua Walker. fox8.com/news/murder-ch…
Justin Golson. tennessean.com/story/news/201…
Ajay Alvarez. tampabay.com/news/st-peters…
Sheyland Barnett. reviewjournal.com/crime/courts/c…
Michael Jones. greenbaypressgazette.com/story/news/201…
I'm bored tonight and Google is endless. More dropped charges:
Terrell Cole. richmond.com/news/local/cri…
Mamadou Diallo. cbsnews.com/news/mamadou-d…
Stacey Gordon. abc3340.com/news/local/mur…
Shaneisha Heath. cincinnati.com/story/news/cri…
Kimario Rowland-Taylor. lansingstatejournal.com/story/news/loc…
Hear me out. Cases of self-defense where a person of color *wasn't even charged because it was so obvious*
[This guy has a go-fund-me FYI] fox6now.com/news/milwaukee…
From Omaha. wowt.com/2021/06/09/oma…
From Virginia [technically charged for like a day]. nbc12.com/2020/06/12/cha…
Oh man, the amount of goalpost moving happening in response to this tweet is FUN. Like I'm very glad *you, specifically* have more nuanced arguments than "this never happens for black defendants" but let me tell you a lot of well-followed Twitter blue checks absolutely don't.
"But Amy, these 50ish cases are just anecdotes that don't address very obvious racial disparities in the system" like NO YOU DUNDERHEADS I know I literally have multiple threads on this thanks for refuting an argument I'm not making by supporting a premise I'm not debating.
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