You probably do not have the Flash Player (Get Adobe Flash Player Here) installed for your browser or the video files are misplaced on your server! |
Had I been serving on that jury I would have made sure that it was a "hung jury" in order to protest the fact that this foolishness had even reached this far in the process.
Two days in jail is sufficient to teach a 20 year old young mother about mouthing off to the police in a bout of frustration.
Now she has a conviction on her record!!!
Thank you Dekalb County Georgia!
This is Dekalb County Solicitor General Sherry Boston. She had the choice to prosecute this case to toss it aside. She decided to throw the book at young Donnetta Foster - threat to society.We were told that "favorable people in power" would benefit the Black community as they would relate to the struggle that "the least of these" face and would speak up rather than be complicit when certain issues come up which they can influence as "judgement calls".
Sadly this theory is not working out. We see more evidence of a protection racket that reduces protests against these officials rather than dramatic change in the outcomes.
At some point the people selling the Black community on this notion need to be called out as well.
From The Article:
After deliberating for 90 minutes, a DeKalb County jury Wednesday night found the mother arrested in a fracas over her baby at the Decatur public library guilty of obstructing a law enforcement officer.Donnetta Foster was sentenced to 12 months: Two days in jail with credit for two days already served, and the remainder of the sentence on probation.Judge Janis C. Gordon told Foster she also would have to perform 40 hours of community service and attend three parenting classes, three child impact classes, three "Alternative Path for Women" classes, and a day-long intensive anger management class.Foster could have gotten up to a year in jail.In a statement issued Wednesday night, DeKalb Solicitor-General Sherry Boston said, "The bottom line is that this defendant was given a simple, lawful command to leave the library more than a dozen times by a police sergeant who was using a clear and calm voice."Foster, in response, "ranted, vented, complained and cursed" for 48 minutes and refused to obey the officer, leaving him "no choice but to arrest the defendant," Boston said.In a statement issued after the verdict, Foster's attorney, Mawuli Mel Davis, said, "As 20-year-old college student, (Foster) did not want a criminal conviction, she had to fight. She will still move forward and make a better life for her and her son."She thanks all the people that have supported her," Davis said. "It is truly unfortunate that this even went this far."The confrontation with library staff and police began when the woman's 14-month-old son made noises.“I was loud,” Foster told the jury during testimony at her trial Wednesday afternoon. “I said a few [curse words]. I’m embarrassed. But I felt like I had been wronged by the library and wanted the officer to help.”Library officials had Foster tossed out Oct. 11. after her son Savon laughed as she used a computer.Earlier in the day, Assistant DeKalb Solicitor General Timothy Owens described the charge to jurors as “knowingly and willfully refusing to obey an officer.”When Foster left the library, as was heard during an approximately 50-minute audio recording played for the court, the woman was boisterous and argumentative, at times challenging the police called to the scene or shouting out her concerns to passers-by. At other times, she remained quiet.“When you didn’t hear me, I was crying,” she said, her eyes welling up on the stand. “There were some points where the situation just overwhelmed me.”
No comments:
Post a Comment