A federal jury Wednesday acquitted a white Louisiana trooper charged with violating the civil rights of a Black motorist despite body-camera footage that showed the officer pummeling the man 18 times with a flashlight.
A federal jury in Louisiana on Wednesday acquitted a white state trooper charged with violating the civil rights of a Black motorist despite body-camera footage that showed the officer pummeling the man 18 times with a flashlight.
Brown still faces state charges in the violent arrest of yet another Black motorist, a case in which he boasted in a group chat with other troopers that “it warms my heart knowing we could educate that young man.”
After a three-day trial in Monroe, jurors found Brown not guilty of depriving Aaron Bowman of his civil rights during a 2019 beating that left Bowman with a broken jaw, broken ribs and a gash to his head.
The acquittal comes as federal prosecutors are still scrutinizing other Louisiana state troopers caught on body-camera video punching, stunning and dragging another Black motorist, Ronald Greene, before he died in their custody on a rural roadside. That federal probe is also examining whether police brass obstructed justice to protect the troopers who beat Greene following a high-speed chase.
Bob Brown, the former chief of staff, was disciplined for displaying a Confederate flag in his office and admitted the n-word was part of his vocabulary.
The lawyers on both sides have influence on who gets into the jury. If the jury had such an overwhelming bias, then the lawyers are to blame…. As always
For starters, let's be clear: Jacob Brown committed battery, a violation of Louisiana state law. This case is about an alleged violation of Federal law and simply isn't a battery case. That means it's not as cut and dry as "we have this guy on video committing battery with a flashlight, of course he's guilty".
So if you want to claim this case is open and shut or cut and dry, you need to point to some element of that law Jacob violated and then explain how it's so obvious he violated that element.
My first guess, and to be clear, I am speculating, is that they tried to prove Jacob battered Aaron because Aaron was black. That means proving beyond a reasonable doubt that Jacob doesn't simply beat everyone up, which is very difficult to prove, especially since so many cops genuinely do simply beat everyone up.
Systemic issues. The problem is that the jury is probably correct that under current Louisiana laws this pig did nothing wrong technically. We all know it's fucked up but we've allowed our laws to be shaped by the people who abuse them.
Whether he broke the law or not is completely irrelevant. 9 times out of 10, a jury in Louisiana is going to be composed of white racists who will always side with a white cop, because that's the primary demographic of the state.