Prosecution's Summary: Overlook Evidence, Use "Common Sense," Think Racially

One of the more blatant race-appeals I've heard: the prosecutors have apparently given up most hope of a conviction, and now are hoping for a racially split jury (and thus a mistrial), and laid out a lot of toxic race-baiting today.

Bernie De La Rionda's summary was chiefly designed to make black people angry about profiling and "assuming" people are criminals. Over and over again he talked about these things. What they have to do with a Murder 2 charge is quite beyond me -- which is why he also urged jurors to just "use common sense," rather than close reading of the law and close examination of the facts, to find their verdict.

But it was his attempt to rehabilitate his stupid, dishonest Star Witness Rachel Jenteal that was the most blatantly racial. There, he actually invoked Martin Luther King, Jr. as a reason to find her words credible.

He kept referring to her language as "colorful" before he got to his quote. I didn't know why he kept saying that. It was the wrong word.

He kept saying "colorful" because he wanted to get to capital-C Color. And here's what he told the jury about Jenteal:

“I had a dream that today a witness would be judged not on the color of her personality but the content of her testimony,” de la Rionda said.

Incredible. He did everything except play Malcolm X for the jury.

He Mentioned Hurricane Katrina, For God's Sakes: John Ekdahl and @@Jenny_IDLYITW inform me that he also name-checked Hurricane Katrina for no good reason. Apparently he said, "It wasn't raining like Hurricane Katrina out there."

posted by Ace at 05:53 PM

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