Derek Chauvin was found guilty on all counts for the murder of George Floyd. Yes! Some see the conviction as a seminal shift away from police being allowed to get away with, well, murder. I would like that to be true as well but I think although it is real progress, it is incremental. In the end, I do not believe Chauvin was convicted so much because of what he did but because of the long, painful video showing exactly what happened. If there was no video, I doubt Chauvin would even have been charged let alone convicted no matter how many eye witnesses there were. With the video, everyone was able to watch the murder. There was no reasonable doubt that Chauvin thought his life was in danger. Even the police testified against him which is highly unusual.
The reality is the greatest tool we have to reduce crime, harassment and violence by the police is the smart phone. But that tool needs to be used and and if its evidence is ignored, people need to protest. That is the way to better world.
Reform of our legal system, unfortunately lags far behind. As my case has show, evidence alone is not enough. I have evidence as good as it gets but it is simply ignored. Some day there may be protests agaisnt bad lawyers, judges and prosecutors but will be a painfully slow journey getting there.
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