… and now for the jury of public opinion
Duluth police officer Jouppi found not guilty of assault
[poll id=”59″]
This poll is now closed. The results are:
This is total bullshit — 90.6 percent
Jouppi was defending himself and the jury’s decision was wise — 9.4 percent
Apparently jury selection is important.
Duluth police seem really nice in general, though maybe I have that impression because I’m an average-looking, middle-aged white guy. Maybe the jury was just too intimidated to convict this cop.
Jury selection is everything. The propspective pool in Pine County is a very different demographic than here.
Well, other things to consider is that the jury might have had limited information (info that may have been released by the media, but was inadmissible to the case). Also, there are legal requirements for finding someone guilty in a court.
However, in the court of the public opinion, that dude was guilty as fuck!
Jouppi was charged with two misdemeanors: 5th degree assault and disorderly conduct. Definitions per the MN statutes:
609.224 ASSAULT IN THE FIFTH DEGREE.
Subdivision 1.Misdemeanor.
Whoever does any of the following commits an assault and is guilty of a misdemeanor:
(1) commits an act with intent to cause fear in another of immediate bodily harm or death; or
(2) intentionally inflicts or attempts to inflict bodily harm upon another.
Notice it is (1) OR (2). The video appears to show (2) being satisfied.
The dichotomy of the poll was in error. This was neither neither total bullshit, nor a simple case of self defence.
The only thing surprising about this case is that the man in the wheel chair wasn’t charged with assaulting Joupppi’s fist with his face.