Shawn Tyson Found Guilty! In One Week?

British tourist murders: Two men at scene; one conviction

 

Photo from the Sarasota Herald Tribune.

I made some errors in thinking in my last blog while I was contemplating my feelings of missing my jury summons to the Tyson trial where a black man is quickly convicted in killing white men.

  • I didn’t have to worry about being kept off the jury because of my views against capital punishment. They were only asking for life in prison.
  • With the international media blitz given this crime, it only lasted one week? I wouldn’t have missed my vacation after all.

Whether Tyson was guilty or not, he did not have a fair trial. Plea bargaining (bribery to me, whether legal or not) brought in 5 witnesses to testify for the prosecution and they were fully believed by the jury even though they were adept at lying, crime and jail time themselves. What happened to the defense? I read the accounts. There wasn’t one. There are so many unanswered questions like:

  • What were two tourists doing in Newtown? It wasn’t easy to find their way to Gregg Ct. Were they looking for drugs? Women?
  • Why were their shirts off? Their pants down?
  • Wasn’t there possibly an accomplice?
  • How come there was only one black person on the jury?
  • Why hadn’t the public defender demanded a more racially fair jury?

TRAYVON MARTIN SHOOTING »

 

Of course I have to compare this trial with the killing of Trayvon Martin, a black man by George Zimmerman, a white/latino man in Sanford, Fl., a little town with  a legacy of racism. He hasn’t even been arrested, in spite of nationwide outrage, hoodied protests and accusations of injustice.

The news in Florida has finally taken over the nation’s front pages, for better or worse.