Has OC DA Raukaukas handed down charges that make it very possible for both men to get off with little if any time behind bars? Are the charges lenient? Did he set up the charges with an easy escape hatch for the officers? What are very possible and probable outcomes given these charges?
Below are essays Mark Cabaniss was inspired to write, given the grotesqueness of this case of Police criminal abuse of power. They were published at CalWatchDog, and picked up by the Friends for Fullerton’s Future Blog and the Greater Long Beach Newspaper Publication.
OC DA’s POLICY OF PRE-EMPTIVE SURRENDER
Monday, September 12th, 2011 By MARK CABANISS
It is getting close to decision time for Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas in the Kelly Thomas case, in which six Fullerton police officers are accused of beating Thomas to death. While the investigation is still not completed and must be b…
THE KELLY THOMAS CASE: INVOLUNTARY MANSLAUGHTER OR FELONY MURDER?
By Mark Cabaniss | August 31, 2011, 5:34 pm
An involuntary manslaughter charge depends on the assertion that the police were lawfully arresting someone. But if they beat Thomas after he lost consciousness, it was no longer a lawful arrest. Felony murder—death arising from a felony—could be based on Thomas’ death arising from battery with serious bodily injury, mayhem or torture, as examples.There does not have to be any intent to kill.
TO END POLICE ABUSE, PUNISH ABUSERS
Tuesday, AUGUST 16, 2011 By MARK CABANISS
Let us be clear: Kelly Thomas’ death was not a “tragedy’ during a “confrontation,” or an “altercation”; it was a gang killing in which six men beat to death a small, mentally ill man who was completely unconscious as the final death blows fell.
