Conservative Kevin Jackson weighed in on the riots in St. Louis after the acquittal of the police officer who shot and killed Anthony Lamar Smith.
Watch below:
He’s right, the guy was not a saint. But just as with censoring of free speech, the nature of the victim should not have any bearing on the argument. In this case, Smith was allegedly a heroin dealer, and led the cops on a high speed chase. But if there’s evidence of malfeasance on the part of the cop who shot and killed him, none of that matters.
Just like it doesn’t matter if the government is trying to censor a heinous racist or anything else – censorship is wrong and if you’re for the First Amendment, it must be fairly applied to all. In the same way, we cannot allow police to take away our due process rights, and preserving our rights in the worst cases are when it really matters. Protecting our inalienable rights in the most objectionable times are how we protect them in all times.
Here’s how insane the arrest was – Anthony Lamar Smith was clearly OK with killing an officer in order to get away.
At issue though, is whether the officer planted the gun after killing the man:
The officers were investigating what appeared to be a drug transaction in the parking lot of a fast food restaurant. The car sped away and a high-speed chase ensued. Police slammed their SUV into Smith’s car. Stockley then got out and fired five shots into Smith’s car, killing him. A handgun was found in the car after the shooting.
Prosecutors argued the presence of Stockley’s DNA — and absence of Smith’s DNA — on the gun proved the gun must have been planted by the officer.
But the defense countered that Stockley heard his partner yell “gun” and saw the driver’s hand on a gun as the car sped by him. Stockley testified he did not draw his service revolver and fire until he saw Smith reaching around inside the vehicle after it was stopped. He said Smith changed his demeanor, suggesting he found the gun.
Stockley testified that after the shooting he found the gun tucked down between the seat and the center console, and he rendered the gun safe by unloading cartridges from the cylinder and then left the gun and cartridges on the passenger seat.
In his ruling, Wilson wrote that “a fact issue that is central” to the case is whether Smith had the gun when he was shot. He found the state’s contention that the officer planted the gun is not supported by evidence.
A full-sized revolver was too large for the officer to hide in his pants pockets and he was not wearing a jacket, the judge said. If the gun had been tucked into his belt, it would have been visible on a bystander’s video that showed Stockley walking between the police car and Smith’s car, he found.
Wilson also noted none of the officers standing next to the vehicle were called to testify that Stockley planted a gun. And he recounted witness testimony that the absence of a person’s DNA on a gun does not mean that person did not touch the gun.
“Finally, the Court observes, based on its nearly thirty years on the bench, that an urban heroin dealer not in possession of a firearm would be an anomaly,” the judge wrote.
So there you go. Of course, to protesters there is never enough evidence that a cop is innocent – they believe they’re all guilty as a matter of course.
For the alternate view, we go to race-baiting Roland Martin from One News network.
Come to your own conclusions.