You are here: /commentary/rioting-vs-peaceful-protest/2020-06-01
The 1st amendment of the US. Constitution lists several Citizen Rights pertaining to protests and mass gatherings.
They are:
Rioting is not peaceful protest and while it may be considered "a petition to redress grievances" by some; since destruction of property and violence against citizens and inhabitants is involved, it is not protected conduct under the 1st amendment.
In many cases, a riot can be considered an attack against an administrative seat of government; especially if police cars are being burned, police are being injured, people are being shot in multiple cities, and businesses are being looted.
When a person is shot while protecting a business or acting as a security guard, this is no longer peaceful protest. Looting can be prosecuted as a robbery, commercial burglary, and using a deadly weapon during the commission of a crime.
The differentiation between commercial robbery and commercial burglary when looting is occurring during a riot is very simple. If store owners or staff were present (including vendors), it is a robbery. If the store was broken into when the store was closed, it is a burglary.
Note: If the store was closed and staff were still inside when the "burglary" occured, it can still be prosecuted as a robbery along with breaking and entering.
Many people have the opinion that the national guard being deployed is further "proof" of a police state, martial law or a systemic attack against minorities by a predominantly white government and police force.
However, if the government did not respond to quell and minimize the rioting and looting, the United States Government and its subordinate governments such as the State Governments, County Governments and City Governments would be looked at as grossly incompetent and negligent by other World Governments and Global Monitoring Organizations.
Furthermore, other US Citizens not involved in rioting or looting can form a peaceful protest and request that the government correct the grievances they have against the government regarding the riots and looting. Namely, endangering their lives and property by allowing the riots and looting to continue unabated.
Since robbery, burglary, assault (not self defense) and intimidation are crimes throughout the United States in the riots and looting are occurring across the entire country; riot organizers and participants can be prosecuted under the RICO Act.
While many defense attorneys will say that the riots related to George Floyd are an isolated incident, it can be proven that they are not as riot organizers for The Occupy Movement and Black Lives Matter have been proven to be the same organizers and founders of the Black Lives Matter movement have ties to the Mexican Mafia who in turn have ties to Al Qaeda and Taliban through their black tar heroin international drug trafficking operations.
The police officer who caused the death of George Floyd has been fired from the police force. He has also been charged with murder and manslaughter. It will be up to the prosecutor, the district attorney for Minneapolis, the Judge and the Jury to decide his ultimate charges and sentence if he is convicted.
At the moment, the proceedings are in progress and the police officer is allegated to have committed homicide during the course of his duties. People are also allegating that the police officer committed an aggravated murder as the suspect was being arrested for a non-violent crime, was already detained and secured in hand cuffs when the police officer choked him to death. At the moment, I have not looked at the video to remain unbiased as I write this post.
During court proceedings, the District Attorney for Minneapolis will work with, not on behalf of, the prosecutor to determine if the charges being filed lawfully fit the definition for the charges as defined in the Minnesota Penal Code. There are rarely any exceptions for law enforcement except for speeding as in the United States, Citizens have a right to bear arms. Police Officers have a right to discharge their firearms at a suspect in defense of life or property other than their own however, they are encouraged to use descalation techniques and effect an arrest with minimal use of force. In cases where a police officer or others are being shot at by the suspect discharge of a police firearm that results in a homicide would be considered lawful.
The prosecutor could issue a plea deal where the suspect avoids going to trial to automatically obtain the minimum allowable sentence. In California, the purpose of the plea deal is often overlooked and many people have taken a plea deal there despite not having done anything unlawful. It's an important distinction to make as many people are now looking at felonies originating in California as doubtful, depending on circumstances and the term "California Felony" has emerged when conducting background checks. This incident happened in Minnesota however, a place that has a good track record of upholding human rights.
In a trial, a jury of the peers will listen to the court room evidence and witness statements and determine if there is enough evidence to issue a guilty plea.
Only one witness is allowed in the courtroom at a time so that they aren't listening to what the other witnesses are saying and issuing corroborating statements. The statements should corroborate with each other on their own in order for them to remain valid and usable by the prosecutor during court proceedings.
The Judges role is only to ensure that the court proceedings remain lawful and compliant with the 5th and 6th amendments of the US Constitution if the person is a US Citizen and with any immigration treaties and agreements if the person is a permanent resident or visa holder.
The Judge also determines the sentence if a guilty plea is found but has the option to defer to the Jury on final sentencing. This is not a requirement in any civil or criminal court even if some judges have gone by the Jury recommendation on sentencing in the past.
The reason some judges have gone by jury recommendations on sentencing in the past is because the courts were seen as having cast too great of a sentence on the guilty. However, the courts are not allowed to legislate from the bench so the correct way to go about changing sentencing guidelines is through a State Legislature or through Congress. When sentencing guidelines are not clearly defined in the US Code or State Penal Code, citizens should again petition their State Legislature or Congress to define them.
These proceedings are a lot different than what people are used to seeing on television attorney shows. But these proceedings are lawful and must be strictly followed in order to uphold sentences and reduce the burden on the courts to find competent juries.
Regarding, impartial jury as required by the 6th amendment. A Jury member can not go into court with any bias against police. They have to look at the matter from a lawful conduct point of view and can not have any pre-conceived notions about police.
Not having any pre-conceived notions about police might be difficult to do in an environment where police are seen as bad people out to get minorities but it is imperative to remain unbiased and not make any comments regarding police, black people, criminals or minorities throughout the court proceedings in order to remain a valid and lawful jury member.
The Executive Director of the Minnesota Chiefs of Police has a message regarding the usefulness of cell phone footage when reviewing police misconduct and holding police officers accountable. The video is published by Fox News along with an article by author Ronn Blitzer.
Going forward, exercising your 1st amendment rights in the case of George Floyd might look something like this:
For Minnesota Residents Only
For US Citizens who are not Residents of Minnesota
Under the 1st amendment, you used to be able to stand outside the courtroom with signs saying if you supported the defendant or victim but this introduces bias to the jury and can be a little intimidating to issue a verdict in a certain manner.
The current recommendation is to hold a gathering at a nearby park that isn't in the path to the courtroom and have a small group of people sit in the courtroom and come to the peaceful gathering throughout the court proceedings to give the group updates.
Please be mindful of other people trying to use the park or public square.