American Criminal Justice Only Neoslavery

By Noble Johns

McLEAN, Va. (BNW) — Last week when law enforcement officials were busy talking about making sure to try the two sniper killers in the state where they would receive the maximum punishment, everyone was unanimous that it was Virginia, however, there’s much more to that talk if you can read between the lines.

While they may have said publicly that Virginia was the best place for the two sniper killers to receive the maximum sentence, what they meant privately was that Virginia had the most corrupt criminal justice system in that area, so as to assure that they will never get a fair trial in that state; apparently the whole of law enforcement knows about Virginia.

There are some places in Virginia and other states in the dirty South where people of color never can get a fair trial. Because when they go to court, they go before a jury that is all white, the judge who is white, the people against them are usually white, the prosecutors are always white, even your lawyer is white, and when they find your “Black Ass” guilty as charged, th guards who take you back to your cell to wait to be sent to prison are white. How you gone get some play?

As a result of these overwhelming white odd against you, most Blacks who go before the criminal justice in this country never get a fair trial nor trial at all, but are forced to plead gulty of the crime, and then as they say "cop low and go!" If you don’t plead guilty, they gone send you to prison for life!

For example, look how they are doing 17-year-old John Lee Malvo. Lawyers for the sniper suspects criticized the police interrogation of Malvo and said they would seek to bar his alleged confession from court.

Malvo reportedly confessed to being the triggerman in several of the Washington-area sniper shootings, including the Virginia slaying in which his alleged accomplice, 41-year-old John Allen Muhammad, is charged with murder.

Apparently, they were illegally interrogating the kid trying to get him to tell on John Allen Muhammad. This illegal breech of the criminal justice system should easily be enough to throw the whole case out of court, but it won’t.

Why? Because the whole damn system is rigged!

Malvo's lawyer, Michael Arif, criticized police for questioning Malvo without his court-appointed guardian or attorney and for leaking the alleged confession to The Washington Post.

``The police are flooding the media and poisoning the jury pool with their own paraphrasing and subjective interpretations of statements made during an unconstitutional interrogation,'' Arif said.

He said the leak ``suggests an insecurity on the part of the commonwealth with the admissibility of these statements.''

Malvo talked to investigators for seven hours after he and Muhammad were handed over to Virginia authorities Thursday for prosecution on death-penalty murder charges. Sources told the Post that Malvo was talkative and even bragged in some of his responses, but kept quiet about Muhammad.

For a murder conviction, prosecutors must show that the defendant was the triggerman. However, under the state's post-Sept. 11 anti-terrorism law, Muhammad could face the death penalty even if he is not found to be the gunman.

A Fairfax County police spokesman declined to comment on the interrogation, and Fairfax County Commonwealth's Attorney Robert F. Horan Jr. did not return calls.

One of the shootings for which Malvo reportedly took responsibility is the Oct. 14 slaying of FBI analyst Linda Franklin. Fairfax County prosecutors charged Malvo with capital murder in that killing.

Muhammad is being prosecuted in Prince William County for the Oct. 9 slaying of Dean Harold Meyers. It is unclear how Malvo's alleged confession to that crime might affect Muhammad's case.

Muhammad's attorney, Peter Greenspun, declined to comment on the case directly, but said the interrogation of Malvo without his court-appointed representatives was wrong.

``I think everybody should be concerned about that, not just lawyers,'' he said. Todd G. Petit, Malvo's appointed guardian, said he went to police headquarters Thursday and asked that questioning be halted. Petit said a police commander agreed to pass on his request, then ordered him to leave.

Arif said he will seek to suppress any incriminating statements.

Meanwhile, Nathaniel O. Osbourne, the New Jersey man who befriended the two suspects, said he felt sorry for them and helped Muhammad buy and register the blue 1990 Chevrolet Caprice that was later allegedly used in the attacks.

``He never talked to me about anything of a criminal nature,'' Osbourne told the Post in Monday's editions. ``People may ask, 'Did they present themselves as vicious criminals?' And I never saw that.''

Osbourne, who was freed last week by federal authorities after being detained as a material witness, said when they arrived in New Jersey in early September, apparently by bus, they were disheveled and nearly penniless, reeking in soiled clothes. Their goal, he said, was to get a car to continue their travels.

``They wanted a car from the beginning,'' Osbourne said. ``I had great compassion for them when I saw them,'' he recalled. ``I looked at them, man, and said to myself, 'Life is no promise. There is no guarantee.'''

The American criminal justice in this country, so it is called, in like neoslavery for Black men; once the system gets hold of you, all of your rights as an American citizen are taken away and you are, in fact, a slave of the State that you are in, just like a hundred years ago. What's the difference?

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