Detroit Justice

[AmerikinWmn]

I think you may remember my comment on the man who shot and killed a young black woman being found guilty of murder, manslaughter, gun charges etc after she came pounding on his door at 4 or 4:40 AM one morning. Today was his sentencing and the first link concerns that. The second link concerns the sentencing of a few of the men (one was a 16 yr old) who beat the white fellow nearly to death after he hit a black child who was jumping out from between cars (a neat little game, huh?) and stopped, as you're supposed to do. This is pretty much what is called justice in Detroit. Now, in case they don't tell you, Ms. McBride wrecked her car 2 to 3.5 hrs before showing up at his door, extremely drunk, pot in her system and the car she had crashed was the 3rd one she'd wrecked in a year (she was just 18). He lived in a BAD area and said there was pounding going on at his windows, sides of his house etc. In fact, no one really knows if she was by herself or others were with her, a fact his piece of crap lawyer never brought up at trial. I'm still wondering how you can be guilty of murder AND manslaughter but I'm no lawyer. Evidently his wasn't much of one either. 

 

http://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/index.ssf/2014/07/judge_gives_ste...

[AmerikinWmn]

By the way, the man is 55 yrs old, been in very little trouble (a DUI I think) and evidently a decent sort. He did give conflicting stories to the police. He should have kept his trap shut and called a decent lawyer. I'd probably give conflicting stories if I was woke up in the middle of the night like he was, and I'll be honest here; I can't say I wouldn't have done the same thing he did. I hope I'd have enough smarts to call the cops and not open the door, but who knows? As for the white guy that got beat up so badly just for doing the right thing and stopping? He's come out of the head injury to a degree but his family says he will always have some brain damage. No wonder people are leaving Detroit to the scum; it's nuts down there.

[P.A.]

Knocking on someone's door at any time does not justify someone shooting you in the face with a with a shotgun.
By the way both links are the same so I can not comment on the second case.

[AmerikinWmn]

If it was just knocking at the door, I'd agree with you. There's a whole lot of things that weren't allowed in trial, which is very common I understand. Why the second link goes to the same story is beyond me but I removed it. The bottom line was the discrepancies in the charges and sentences; it was glaring. As the judge sentenced the man for killing the girl on the porch, she said she felt he was sorry, she felt he was no danger to anyone and that he wasn't a cold blooded murderer. Then sentenced him to 17-32 yrs minimum in jail. At his age, he'll probably die there. The most anyone got in the beating of the white guy was 10 yrs and he's already a 3 time loser and should serve life without parole by law. Don't know how they managed that one. The 16 yr old hasn't yet been sentenced or if so they've kept it on the down low. He was originally charged with a violation of civil rights charge too but the prosecutor dropped it. None of the others were charged with that, if so they'd have received far more time. 

[frenchy]

well just my 2 cents here a.w. but why didn't the guy call the cops ?? and why did he open the front door ?? now if that girl had broken into his house and he shot her it would have been a whole different story .. your home is your castle and all that jargon .. but to shoot somebody who is outside changes everything .. i don't doubt the guy might have been scared not knowin what was goin on and if their were more than one of them ..  but call 911 and stay inside .. if they do break in which may have happened , ( or may not , we'll never know now ) and then if he shot them he would have been within his rights .. far as the other link its not the one you said it was so i can't comment on that .. as for the trial chief is right .. when you get to court the jury only gets to see what the judge deems pertinent to the case and all the rest gets surpressed .. so we'll see one thing and the jury won't ever know so they can't take it into account even if they wanted to .. and sentences are often times mandatory for one crime or another so the judge can't find you guilty and then sentence you to 15 minutes .. i think this prevents some judges from goin way overboard but it also prevents other judges from cuttin anybody any slack either .. the system is flawed for sure but its still better than everybody elses .  

[AmerikinWmn]

From the trial, he said he was woke up by pounding going on all around his house; the windows, walls and doors. Only had a cell phone and could't find it. Pounding continued, he got out of bed, crawled through the house to the front, had planned on grabbing a ball bat but his shot gun was close to the door I guess, and he grabbed that. The pounding continued on the door, he opened it and fired. Said he didn't know who or what he'd shot at first. Looked again for his cell phone (he didn't have a land line) found it then called the cops. He lives in an extremely bad area of Dearborn Heights, right across the street from a horrid part of Detroit. Evidently he'd had break ins before but as I said, there were lots of things not allowed in court. She'd wrecked her car at 1 AM; the shooting happened at 4 or 4:30. Her blood alcohol lever was 3 to 4 times legal limit; she had smoked pot. This was her 3rd car wreck in a year and she was just 18. No one even knows for sure if she was by herself as she'd been wandering around somewhere for 3 or so hours. Her car was half a mile away. I just think he had a very bad lawyer, and the prosecutor over charged him. To me, he was guilty of manslaughter, not murder. Instead, he was charged with all of that and the jury found him guilty. Her family of course has filed a $10,000,000 law suit against the guy, which is a joke. As for mandatory sentencing, the judge had guidelines but could have given him a much lighter sentence as mentioned below. She chose not to, for reasons I'm sure having more to do with winning elections than justice.

[AmerikinWmn]

She went by guide lines set down but could have given him as little as 6 - 10 yrs. She was almost crying the whole time then whacked him with that sentence. That was cruel in my eyes, making it sound like she thought he wasn't a bad guy then WHAM.

[frenchy]

in retrospect .. he shoulda looked for that cell phone .. and if he couldn't find it then grab the shotgun and WAIT FOR THEM TO CROSS HIS THRESHOLD  before he fired that gun .. like i said i do believe it was a bad area and shit happened there a lot .. i also believe the girl was whacked out of her gourd and probably not even sure where she was .. which might have explained why she was bangin on his house and tryin to get in .. maybe she thought she was home ?? or at a boyfriends house and thinkin he was in there with another girl ?? who knows what was on her mind ?? but whatever it was , in the eyes of the law it wasn't a good enough reason to shoot her .. unless she did a home invasion .. all those things are somethin to think about .. but mostly distractions cause even if thats why he shot her ( and it probably was ) she was still outside and no threat to him until she entered his dwelling ..even if someone does enter your house you're not supposed to shoot them in the back because once they turn their back on you its supposed to be read as a sign they were retreatin and no longer a threat .. there was a black lady here in florida who had a history of abuse from her husband and he was in her garage and threatin her so she got her gun and fired a shot into the ceiling to warn him and they arrested her .. this was right after the zimmerman case so they told her she couldn't claim stand your ground .. i'm not sure how much time she spent in jail behind that but if she would have just shot him that would have been that because he was in her garage and there was a history of abuse between her and him so she knew what he would do .. if she didn't have that gun who knows what he might have done that day .. sometimes the law is so stupid .. here she is tryin not to shoot him and they arrested her .. eventually they did let her go which was the right thing to do .. arrestin her was definitely not ..