Well Maybe We Can Get Justice For Darius? Trayvon Part 2

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John Henry Spooner Trial: Wisconsin Man Accused Of Shooting 13-Year-Old Neighbor

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John Henry Spooner Trial FILE - This file combination photo shows Particia Larry, right, on June 2, 2012, in MIlwaukee, holding a picture of her son son Darius Simmons, 13, and John Henry Spooner, left, 75, in a photo provided by the Milwaukee County Sheriff's Department. Larry has filed a wrongful death suit against Spooner and wants an order to prevent him from disposing of his assets. Spooner has pleaded not guilty to a first-degree intentional homicide charge in the May 31 shooting of Darius Simmons. (AP Photos/File

John Henry Spooner Trial, John Henry Spooner Case, John Spooner, Wisconsin Man Trial Killing Neighbor, John Henry Spooner, John Spooner Trial, Crime News
MILWAUKEE — Jurors were selected Monday in the case of a 76-year-old white man charged with gunning down a 13-year-old black boy last year on a Milwaukee sidewalk over a theft allegation.

The proceedings come two days after a jury acquitted George Zimmerman in the shooting death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Fla., last year. In the Milwaukee shooting, which has been compared to the Florida case, John Henry Spooner is charged with first-degree intentional homicide in the May 2012 death of his next-door neighbor, Darius Simmons.

Spooner suspected Simmons of breaking into his Milwaukee home and stealing guns, prosecutors said. Spooner confronted the teen on the sidewalk two days after the weapons came up missing and demanded that he return them. When Simmons denied stealing anything, Spooner shot him in the chest from five feet away as the teen's mother watched, according to the criminal complaint.

Spooner then fired a second shot as Simmons tried to run away, the complaint said. Police recovered a weapon and two spent bullet casings.

An autopsy found that Simmons, who was unarmed, suffered a gunshot wound to his torso. The bullet exited his back.

Witnesses said Spooner paced up and down the sidewalk after the shooting until police arrived. They arrested him without incident.

Spooner's defense attorney, Franklyn Gimbel, conceded that Spooner shot Simmons but said he would argue that he didn't intend to kill the boy. Gimbel also said he had an expert who would testify that Spooner had a mental illness at the time of shooting that prevented him from knowing right from wrong.

The morning of the shooting, Spooner and Milwaukee Alderman Bob Donovan ate breakfast together. Donovan said Spooner told him he had lost $3,000 worth of shotguns in a burglary that week and was frustrated with police. He also told Donovan that he was dying of lung cancer, Donovan said.

Although the case has been compared to the shooting of the Florida teen, Gimbel said the only similarity was that the victims were both black teens. The attorney said he doesn't think the case in Florida or Saturday's acquittal of Zimmerman, a former neighborhood watch volunteer, on a second-degree murder charge should have any relevance in Spooner's trial.

"I am concerned to the extent that the jury blends in the details of what that outcome might have been," Gimbel said. "Otherwise it should have no bearing."

Judge Jeffrey Wagner asked those in the jury pool whether they could separate the two cases.

"You understand the facts aren't the same. It's a whole different case," he said, as the prospective jurors nodded.

The overall pool of prospective jurors contained four black people, but the defense removed three of them while whittling the panel down to the 14 selected jurors.

Prosecutor Mark Williams told the judge he wasn't pleased about having just one black remaining. He said he wanted to take up the issue Tuesday morning before opening statements.

Two of the jurors, chosen at random, will be dismissed at the end of the trial. The other 12 will deliberate the case.

Florida has a stand-your-ground law, which gives people wide latitude to use deadly force rather than retreat during a fight. Wisconsin does not, but it does have a so-called castle doctrine. That law creates a presumption of legal immunity for someone who kills or injures a person breaking into his or her home, vehicle or workplace. The measure requires a judge to presume that the use of deadly force was necessary.

But that isn't likely to be relevant in the Milwaukee shooting since it happened outside.

The shooting of Simmons drew swift response from the Rev. Jesse Jackson's Rainbow PUSH Coalition, which called for federal hate-crimes charges against Spooner. The group also was upset about the way police treated Simmons' family during the shooting investigation.

Police had forced the teen's grieving mother, Patricia Larry, to sit in a squad car for more than an hour rather than let her hold her dying son or join him at the hospital. Officers also searched the mother's home for the allegedly stolen firearms, which were not found, and they arrested another one of her sons on a year-old truancy violation.

Milwaukee Police Chief Edward Flynn defended his officers' actions, saying investigators only get one chance to collect evidence and interview witnesses at the scene. He said that means keeping witnesses apart to prevent them from talking, even family members who are mourning and want to be together.

In this case, Simmons' mother was a primary witness, Flynn said. "I wish it had been the mailman," the chief said. "But it wasn't. It was the mom."

The mother has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Spooner.

After Zimmerman's acquittal over the weekend in Florida, more than 100 people rallied Sunday night in Milwaukee. They marched, carried signs and spoke about injustice.
 
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Police had forced the teen's grieving mother, Patricia Larry, to sit in a squad car for more than an hour rather than let her hold her dying son or join him at the hospital. Officers also searched the mother's home for the allegedly stolen firearms, which were not found, and they arrested another one of her sons on a year-old truancy violation.
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Police had forced the teen's grieving mother, Patricia Larry, to sit in a squad car for more than an hour rather than let her hold her dying son or join him at the hospital. Officers also searched the mother's home for the allegedly stolen firearms, which were not found, and they arrested another one of her sons on a year-old truancy violation.

:smh:

Some messed up ish man
 
there was justice for trayvon, just not the justice that people wanted

deal with it

Man shut the **** up...***** *** *****. Can't even comment on what happened in this story **** boy. Y'all NT trolls are the worst.

Man shut up. he's completely right. you're just mad it wasn't the justice you wanted.
 
Police had forced the teen's grieving mother, Patricia Larry, to sit in a squad car for more than an hour rather than let her hold her dying son or join him at the hospital. Officers also searched the mother's home for the allegedly stolen firearms, which were not found, and they arrested another one of her sons on a year-old truancy violation.

:smh:

How can one not make it about race when stories like this happen?
 
I hope that the family gets justice because the older man was wrong.

I remember reading about this case but when I saw the title of the thread I thought you were talking about another case where a 17 or 18 was shot and killed at an gas station by a white gentlemen who was with his date for that night,they both had a few to many drinks and some how ended up getting into a verbal confrontation with the victim and his three other friends.After the verbal exchange was over they victim and his friend were leaving and the white gentlemen says "he thought he saw one of them raise a gun up out of the car window" so he pulled his firearm and shot into the car,killing the young man just to find out later that there was no gun on any of the teens or in the car at all.Also the verbal battle they had was mostly him,confronting them about loud music and saying racial epithets towards them,mind you this is coming from the woman he was on the date with.

Any updates on that case????


I hope all them get justice,this pulling guns to settle minor conflicts is getting out of hand and it needs to stop.These types of cased makes people want to carry a gun whether they need to or not because I would rather die fighting than to die because of some sensitive,over stereo-typical unrational thinker he wasn't to take matters into his own hands.
 
Can't wait till all these old racist ******* rot off the face of the earth.
 
This is a really sad story.

Hope The Geezer sees gen pop nothing would surprise me tho.

If you think a man profiling following and killing a 17yr old kid and not seeing prison for it even resembles justice you're sick in the head.
 
But hold up, Cancer is a mental illness now? Or was it supposedly depression? Keeping the mother in the car while he died and arresting the other brother, too? A year-old truancy violation warrants an arrest in Milwaukee, especially in that moment? Was it necessary for the second shot to ring out more than the first shot?

I'm sure stuff like this happens more than televised, but man, is it heating up!

Let's see how this case plays out. Seems like the last couple Cases: Racist have been kinda swept under the rug.
 
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John Henry Spooner Trial: Wisconsin Man Accused Of Shooting 13-Year-Old Neighbor


Spooner suspected Simmons of breaking into his Milwaukee home and stealing guns, prosecutors said. Spooner confronted the teen on the sidewalk two days after the weapons came up missing and demanded that he return them. When Simmons denied stealing anything, Spooner shot him in the chest from five feet away as the teen's mother watched, according to the criminal complaint.

Spooner then fired a second shot as Simmons tried to run away, the complaint said. Police recovered a weapon and two spent bullet casings.

An autopsy found that Simmons, who was unarmed, suffered a gunshot wound to his torso. The bullet exited his back.

Spooner's defense attorney, Franklyn Gimbel, conceded that Spooner shot Simmons but said he would argue that he didn't intend to kill the boy. Gimbel also said he had an expert who would testify that Spooner had a mental illness at the time of shooting that prevented him from knowing right from wrong.

...


The overall pool of prospective jurors contained four black people, but the defense removed three of them while whittling the panel down to the 14 selected jurors.




The defense is morally bankrupt if they are really planning on pushing mental illness.


:smh:



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