Houston PD goes Rodney King…

Are you kidding me?

Now, these cops have been fired and are being prosecuted for Official Oppression.

As a class A misdemeanor, it carries a punishment of up to one year in jail and up to a $4000.00 fine. The charge of Assault, which would carry the same punishment, would not enhance any consequences against the officer. By charging Official Oppression, the District Attorney’s office guarantees that the case will be tried in a District Court instead of a Criminal County Court.

But here’s the amazing part: Section 39.04 enhances the crime to a State Jail Felony if there are sexual advances made on a person in custody, with higher punishments if the victim is a juvenile. BUT no enhanced punishments if the victim is just plain BEATEN. This is a major flaw in the law. A person is custody is stomped on, kicked and punched more than twenty times, and yet, the best Texas can do is a class A misdemeanor. Compare that to other class A misdemeanors: driving drunk a second time, slapping your spouse or having more than 2 oz of marijuana.

Let’s talk about the tape for a minute. I was a prosecutor for nearly 10 years, so understand that’s my background where this thinking comes from. That tape is evidence of a crime. It’s part of a criminal investigation and prosecution of four repugnant Houstonians that deserve nothing less than the maximum punishment under the law. The District Attorney’s office is right to keep it to themselves as they should all evidence. It is grossly improper for the DA’s office to attempt in any manner to smear the potential jury pool with any information of the crime prior to trial. The DA’s office must keep its opinion to itself to maintain the proposition that all are presumed innocent. If the DA’s office distributed this tape, they’d be attempting to influence a juror before trial, and that’s the worst kind of ethics violation. The Harris County District Attorney’s office doesn’t behave that way. And let’s get one thing perfectly clear: after watching this video tape, there is no person in the world who would be fair and impartial prior to the selection of a jury after seeing it. I’m ready now to give them the full year and $4k and be done with the case.

But as a defense attorney, if I were defending one of these guys, I’d be screaming that the whole jury pool is now tainted and there would be no way for any of those guys to get a fair trial after the release of the video. No one could honestly say that they had seen the video and be able to approach the trial fairly and impartially as a jury member should.

What you’ll see in the video is disturbing. Four Houston Police officers, obviously enraged by having to chase this teenager beat him once they caught him. Not only did they strike him with their fists, but they kicked him repeatedly after he’s completely submissive on the ground and detained. After the car is used to knock him down, he goes submissive and lays his hands behind his head. That’s when one officer stomps on his head, others start kicking, and one officer punches the man up to five times.

See what you think of the video.

You know what this kind of event does? It destroys communities. It validates all the terrible things people say about police officers. It makes everyone out there trust law enforcement a little less. I hate everything about what they did. I feel sorry for the DAs that do a good job and are now associated with a city who’s law enforcement acted from the lowest form of humanity. Maybe they won’t get jail time. Maybe they’ll get 1,200 hours of community service that must be spent cleaning sewer lines by hand.

What do you think? I look forward to hearing from you.