# Did anyone follow the Kelly Thomas trial? Cops' use of force caused a death; cops aquitted **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [January 14, 2014, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-follow-the-kelly-thomas-trial-cops-use-of-force-caused-a-death-cops-aquitted/678785 "2014-01-14T15:04:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 279
**Author:** ![YoungKusher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/3e96dc/32.png) [@YoungKusher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YoungKusher)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2014, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-follow-the-kelly-thomas-trial-cops-use-of-force-caused-a-death-cops-aquitted/678785/279 "2014-02-13T19:19:37Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > I’ve actually seen the justice system in action (I dated a law student, and her idea of a thrilling date was to go down to the courthouse and watch a malpractice trial!) It isn’t “faith” on my part that the system works; I’ve watched it. That’s fine, I don’t necessarily disagree that “the system works,” but that doesn’t mean every verdict is correct. Whether the verdict is lawful and immoral, or unlawful and/or immoral. I don’t understand how multiple police officers, who are professionally trained, beat a man for 10 minutes until he was unconscious in order to subdue him. They should have had him hogtied and immobile without killing him or even knocking him unconscious relatively quickly. > [@](#): > > If the verdict had been blatantly wrong, this would be all over all the news sources and opinion sources. The family would be on every talk show in the land. The ACLU would have filed all sorts of lawsuits. > > There was a brief public-interest flurry of petitions for a full FBI probe, and for a new trial on the grounds of civil rights violations. None of this has gone much of anywhere. Not many are willing to attack/prosecute the people who protect us. As far as I know, the FBI _is_ conducting their own investigation. Also, nobody said that the verdict was “blatantly wrong,” nobody is saying the jury is somehow stupid, I’m just voicing my opinion and questioning, rightfully, how these officers could be acquitted. I’ve seen other people (civilians) convicted of murder for less, why exactly do these cops get a pass? > [@](#): > > I agree that it is a fallacy to say, “There’s no smoke, so there must be no fire.” But if there is a problem with the verdict, I’d really like someone to try to tell me why. The “burden of proof” is now heavily on the side of the verdict’s skeptics. The problem has been discussed. People have a hard time convicting police officers of crimes of this nature. The DA was so disturbed by the footage that he wanted to try the officers himself! When would a DA, who has a political agenda, ever try an officer of the law? That’s asking for a backlash. I still think there is inherently something wrong with what happened. Thomas was not being “combative,” he was sitting down when he was basically assaulted. If anything, he was being slightly unruly, which can be expected from a mentally ill person or a person who has problems with authority. The officer never even asked him about the car handles, which is why he was called out there in the first place. Before he pounced on Thomas, the officer never said, “put your hands behind your back,” he simply began attacking the man. --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-follow-the-kelly-thomas-trial-cops-use-of-force-caused-a-death-cops-aquitted/678785)._