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Tuesday 12 February 2013

Warning: Graphic footage-Murder of Ernest Duenez Junior.wmv



back on. YouTube: Contact me before removal. This is newsworthy, public-interest, and viewers can decide for themselves not to watch it.
Also, Ernest doesn't have a knife on him. And, for those who think because this officer, Manteca Police officer John Moody, said "drop the knife", anyone with any police training knows no officer would ever approach a person this way if there were a knife. That's part of the reason why the title of this clip includes the word "murder".
A few points to answer some of the commenters' questions:
The knife you see on the pickup truck is only the knife another officer gave Moody to cut the seatbelt from Ernest's ankle.
The only knife found at the scene was found in the bed of the pickup truck, and nothing in the video travels from Ernest to the bed of the pickup truck. Witnesses place that knife in the bed of the pickup truck prior to any of this happening.
The claim that Ernest was wanted for any sort of domestic violence is outrageously false: The call pertaining to Ernest was from a guy who wanted Ernest gone for totally different, unrelated reasons. He told police Ernest carried a knife (never mentioned him threatening anyone with it), and said Ernest had been arguing with his wife earlier in the day.
There are so many other details, most of which I can't discuss, but know this: under every and any legal analysis, whether or not Ernest had a knife on him (and he didn't), Moody loses both in a criminal murder trial or a civil rights trial. That's why Willet is a fool not to prosecute him, and why Federal intervention is necessary. Not just Moody loses, but also the City of Manteca and former Chief Bricker, for both ratifying this shooting as being within policy of Manteca, and Manteca for having a policy that, according to its representatives, authorized the shooting depicted in the video. That's the legal analysis, the graham v. conner and monell standards are satisfied beyond any doubt by the video and the subsequent statements of Chief Bricker (no, it doesn't matter that there is a new chief).
Some commenters on here have quibbled over whether Ernest's background justifies the shooting. Some might feel politically inclined toward the officer, but that doesn't actually change the legal or factual analysis: Ernest's background does not alter the outcome of the legal analysis under any scenario plausibly derived from the video. And it shouldn't.
Finally, if Willet can't prosecute this murder then he should just quit, resign. Enforce the law, not the politics.

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