CA cop acquitted

"Lawyers: Jurors tend to back cops"
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It really hadn't struck me until now how insulting this headline is, both to jurors & White.

6 days later & a story to stir up controversy, with 400+ bites. Funny the story about 3 other victims of Silva's road rage, 1 whose testimony was given, described an aggressive, violent Silva physically assaulting her, generated only 30 comments.

Media sensationalism at best. White was the "Off Duty Cop in Road Rage Incident" & Silva was the "Oceanside Mom Shot by Off-Duty Cop" or "Shooting Victim". A local TV news station called this the "Shot Mom Trial".

Other media sources OUTSIDE San Diego called this a "Traffic Shooting" or "Off-Duty Shooting", in which White was acquitted of "Firearms Charges" or "Weapons Charges".

I don't recall "Unfit Mother Repeatedly Drove Drunk With Kids" or "Silva Pleads Guilty to 2nd Felony Child Endangerment" or "3 Victims of Silva Road Rage Come Forward" or "Silva High on Meth in Road Rage".

In a matter of semantics, her sins were downplayed & White was a road rager. The media aside, why didn't White's superiors back him up & say the behavior was uncharacteristic to that displayed on the job (witness testimony).

I imagine the DA gets a looky at his personnel record, & by this time OPD had calls from 3 other Silva victims. The DA's charges & AG's leniency to Silva insinuated there was compelling evidence against White. Now, this story questions the jury's ethics. The media continues to cast Silva as the victim. Her son is a victim of a deranged, drugged out, alcoholic unfit mother. "Mom" she is not, with 2 Felony Child Endangerments, no financial support, she's lucky if she gets supervised visitation.

It will be interesting to see her sentence. Expect public outrage if it's probation. What's the hold up anyway? She was supposed to be sentenced in March. Is the delay due to the civil trial? If so, sounds like some attorney politicking to me.

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Not the whole story, just some quotes. BUt here it is for those interested:

http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/jun/27/lawyers-jurors-tend-back-cops/?metro&zIndex=123527

Juries don't want to convict these guys,” Collins said. “And they tell you that in a hurry. Cops are seen as heroes by a lot of people.”

White shot and wounded Rachel Silva and her son, Johnny, 8. She had angrily pursued him into a parking lot after he had honked at her after she cut him off.

William Braniff, a former U.S. attorney and defense attorney who is now retired as a lawyer, represented Chaney. Much like White's lawyer Rick Pinckard did, Braniff focused jurors on the quick decision Chaney had to make in a life-threatening situation.

“He's being judged on a split-second decision,” he said. Neither officers provoked the conflict, Braniff said.

“In both these cases, though . . . they were put in a situation where they were otherwise without fault,“ he said. “The escalation was not because of anything they did.”

“The nut of our case is even though Rachel Silva may have been behaving in an impolite or belligerent way,“ he said, “emptying a gun into a car as it is moving away and shooting an unarmed woman and 8-year-old boy is entirely unreasonable.”

HERE'S THE QUESTION:

Had the shooter been a civilian and acting on seld-defense, would jurors agree that he/she was making split-second decision?

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