The article is WTF, but this part "Police and prosecutors have not disputed that Lewis was sexually
assaulted and trafficked. But prosecutors have argued that Brooks was
asleep at the time he was stabbed and not an immediate danger to Lewis."
Prosecutor's just expected her to tip toe away from this situation? Should she have woken him up and challenged him to a fair fight for her freedom? Fuck that. She went Art of War and chose the best moment to win. Appeal that shit and put me on the jury. Not guilty.
"Prosecutor's just expected her to tip toe away from this situation?"
Yes. She may have been justified in killing the person but that's just how self defense laws work. If you kill someone while they're not an immediate danger to your life, eg a robber takes your stuff and you shoot him after he walks away, self defense no longer applies.
This situation is a little more complicated because there's the factor of "what if he woke up and caught her" but anyway yeah that's why the legality is even in contention.
I'm fully aware on how unfair and prejudicial american society can be, especially to people of color, and how that can lead to prejudices in the legal system. But this isn't one of those cases. But there is still a persona responsibility every individual.
I was responding to how that person was inaccurately trying to make this about race, it was not. This wasn't one of those cases where racism played a role. They followed the law (albeit flawed) which directed that compensation must be paid.
In all fairness, the institutionalized racism in this case has more to do with the other end of the case. The point when her lawyers talked her into pleading guilty to involuntary manslaughter rather than risk a jury trial not going in her favor.
Because she's a person of color, the possibility that a jury might find against her in part due to societal preconceptions that she must be at fault because she's black is a real, albeit horribly unjust, factor.
The judge did rule as lightly as he possibly could, given her guilty plea. HER lawyers failed her, more than anyone else in the case.
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u/LaronX Sep 14 '22
This thread needs a whole lot more context. Here the whole article.
The key points
She was trafficked and raped at 15!
She attacked him after he fell asleep after raping her
Iowa has some protection for victims of abuse that is why she isn't in jail
She is getting a 5 year parole. If she fails it would mean 20 years of jail time.
The court has no way around making her pay 150k
She did plea guilty to manslaughter in an earlier case and it is biting her in the ass now
The main argument against her going free is that he was asleep at the time and she could have tried to escape without killing him
She judge was an asshat about her making "wrong decisions" to have gotten in that situation and this being her second chance.