Activist Judges At It Again! Cops Can’t Threaten Black Suspects With All-White Juries

Call it a case of  taking things a bit too far. Detective Edward Gonzalez of Gary, Indiana pulled out all the stops to extract a murder confession from McLynnerd Bond, Jr. But when, after three hours of interrogation, Bond still denied involvement, Detective Gonzalez had to turn the screws a bit tighter. Raw Story reports:

Detective Cpl. Edward Gonzalez suggested he would not face an impartial jury and would face lesser charges if he confessed.

“Don’t let twelve people who are from Schererville, Crown Point — white people, Hispanic people, other people that aren’t from Gary, from your part of the hood — judge you,” the officer said, according to the court order.

“Because they’re not gonna put people on there who are from your neck of the woods,” the detective added. “You know that. They’re not gonna be the ones to decide what happens to you. You know that. I know that. Everybody knows that.”

I’m sure all those fine Americans who have nothing but the utmost respect for the “rule of law”, always fully back law enforcement no-matter-what, and who always have a pocket copy of  the Constitution on hand,  will dissent — but the rest of us can agree: that’s majorly eff’d up.  And today, the Indiana Supreme Court concurred.

“Intentionally misleading a suspect as to his constitutionally guaranteed rights to a fair trial and an impartial jury, because of his race, sits squarely on the wrong side” of the law, the court ruled….

“This was an intentional misrepresentation of rights ensconced in the very fabric of our nation’s justice system — the rights to a fair trial and an impartial jury, and the right not to be judged by or for the color of your skin — carried out as leverage to convince a suspect in a criminal case that his only recourse was to forego his claim of innocence and confess,” the court ruled.

Score one for justice.

By: Sandi Behrns

Sandi Behrns is a noted policy nerd, new media & web developer, and consultant to progressive organizations and campaigns. She is a senior contributor to Liberaland, and the Executive Editor of Progressive Congress News.