Christopher Donovan: Smith v. Berghuis: The Black Defendant's Right to a Not Guilty Verdict

Christopher Donovan: On Wednesday, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Smith v. Berghuis, quite possibly the most absurd lawsuit of the year.  Needless to say, the claim was racial discrimination. 

Equally needless to say, he’s got supporters in the media and among whites.

Diapolis Smith, a Black man, shot and killed Christopher Rumbley during a bar fight in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1991.  He was convicted of second-degree murder.  On appeal, he claimed that he was denied a fair trial because the jury pool had too few Blacks. 

Get this:  The percentage of Blacks in the community was 7 percent.  For Smith’s jury pool, it was 6 percent. 

How this laughably trivial complaint makes it to the Supreme Court is a testament to the insanity of the multiracial society.  The slightest claim of racial discrimination — provided it’s lodged by a non-white — throws our whole administrative apparatus into a tailspin. 

Caselaw does say, however, that a criminal defendant is entitled to a jury pulled from a fair cross-section of the community.  This has been interpreted to mean that “identifiable groups” cannot be excluded. 

So, how were Blacks “excluded” from Smith’s jury pool?   A big sign declaring “no Blacks”?  An evil White racist jury administrator who tossed every other Black person? 

Not quite. 

Blacks, evidence showed, were more likely to be excused because they asked to be excused, often for child-care or transporation reasons. 

Or, they were kept off because of their felony records. 

In other words, the slightly lower number of Blacks was because of their own behavior, not because of any exclusionary intent.  And imagine if the court refused to excuse Blacks who complained that they couldn’t serve because of a lack of money — another lawsuit would have resulted.  Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.

But all of this is only one level of insanity — a level that assumes the “cross section of the community” demand is a legitimate one to begin with. 

The supporters of Black murderer Smith, interestingly, don’t seem to doubt the existence or importance of race, despite the constant left-wing assertion that “race does not exist” or is “only a social construct.”  As always, this argument only applies when it benefits non-Whites.  Just ask Sonia Sotomayor, who whipped hostile questions Michigan’s way — but of course found no fault with New Haven, Connecticut’s exclusion of White firefighters.  

Dig a little deeper, and you see that what Smith is really claiming is the right to be tried by fellow Blacks, not Whites.  Or at least as many Blacks as he can get on his jury. 

Dig deeper still, and you see that what he’s claiming is a right to be found “not guilty” — because he presumes that his racial brothers and sisters will side with him, the evidence be damned.  There’s simply no other reason for Blacks to demand that they be tried by fellow Blacks. 

Nevertheless, I am beginning to suspect that the dreaded “all-White jury” doesn’t sometimes acquit Black defendants for fear of being seen as “racist.”  If anyone’s got evidence of this, let me know.  

Despite the insanity of Smith v. Berghuis, I see almost no critical media coverage of this suit.  Look at the “friend of the court” briefs, and you’ll see plenty — filed for Smith.  One lonely brief takes Michigan’s side. 

It all makes me want to stand on a mountain and scream, “Can’t anyone see what’s going on here?” 

If it’s the case that Blacks are wrongly accused and convicted — or cannot be fairly judged but by fellow Blacks — then I have a solution:  racial separation.  Could it be any crazier than the status quo?

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9 Comments to "Christopher Donovan: Smith v. Berghuis: The Black Defendant's Right to a Not Guilty Verdict"

  1. John Stonehouse's Gravatar John Stonehouse
    January 30, 2010 - 12:52 pm | Permalink

    You are quite right.
    Ultimately, no civil society can withstand such blatant injustice.It will be impossible to pull the wool over the eyes of the sheeple at some point and they will realise just how grievious the pervesion of the US justice system is.It’s only a matter of time.Unlike the constant ‘drip-drip-drip’ of the AA abuse, this particular injustice in selected cases, has the ability to engender a real sense of anger and grevience.

  2. Shiva's Gravatar Shiva
    January 30, 2010 - 1:13 pm | Permalink

    The WORST jury for a White activist to face is an ALL-WHITE JURY. They ALWAYS convict and vote for the harshest sentences. Ask Shaun Walker or any of a hundred others.

  3. Christopher Donovan's Gravatar Christopher Donovan
    January 30, 2010 - 3:31 pm | Permalink

    Shiva:

    I’ll bet you’re right. After years of mental conditioning, a jury of whites wants to show how righteous it is by throwing the book at a white activist defendant.

  4. Stan Anagram's Gravatar Stan Anagram
    January 30, 2010 - 6:24 pm | Permalink

    There are all-black juries too, and defense counsel tend to hate them. They hate them because they can’t play the race card with an all-black jury. All-black juries tend to convict in 10 minutes. It’s only when there are whites on the jury who are moved to hesitate before voting to convict that defense counsel can create racial tension in the jury box.

  5. Barbara Cornett's Gravatar Barbara Cornett
    January 30, 2010 - 6:27 pm | Permalink

    Of course this was a racist act against this black man and its obvious to anyone. White people are racists and we always will be and the black man will never get a fair shake in a White nation.

    Black people should be helped to leave the United States and go back to Africa where they can live in peace and not be oppressed and treated badly by the evil White man. Black people deserve to have good lives and be allowed to realize their potential and not be subjected to the White man who attempts to rule over him and hold him down.

    Blacks deserve the right to govern themselves and determine their own destinies away from White racists and the White racist American system. This is also true for the Jews, Hispanics, Asians, Arabs and Muslims.

  6. Nietzsche's Gravatar Nietzsche
    January 31, 2010 - 9:25 am | Permalink

    It’s shocking that you don’t applaud the black’s position:

    First of all he is arguing for racial segregation, the prerequisite for the return of blacks to Africa.

    Secondly, the constitution provides for a jury of peers. The black said he had no peers on the jury, and he was right. A peer is by definition someone of the same social rank and experience. He knows, as should you, that whites are not his peers.

    Do you want blacks second-class citizens? Or do you want them gone?

    Make up your mind.

  7. Joseph's Gravatar Joseph
    February 2, 2010 - 7:01 pm | Permalink

    Nietzche, personally I want all of them gone; blacks, asians, jews, muslims etc. Let them live the lives they chose in the communities they deserve. Obviously Mr. Donovan is pointing out what happens when our society is otherwise organised.

  8. Seadragonconquerer's Gravatar Seadragonconquerer
    February 2, 2010 - 9:14 pm | Permalink

    6%, not 7%….sounds like talmudic logic-chopping. This wasn’t “about” blacks at all. It was about the requirements of a certain savage, nomadic tribe – vastly overrepresented among law school faculties and the entire trial lawyer profession – which USES our legal system as yet another means of group entitlement for the invasive races it controls.

  9. February 3, 2010 - 11:59 pm | Permalink

    Amazing! Not clear for me, how offen you updating your theoccidentalobserver.net.
    Bottomless

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