SCRP – by Ed Joyce, July 5, 2013
It was two years ago Friday (July 5) that a mentally ill homeless man was involved in a violent confrontation with Fullerton police officers. Kelly Thomas died five days later.
Ex-Fullerton police officers Manuel Ramos and Jay Cicinelli since have been charged in connection with Thomas’ death and are set to go to trial on October 18.
Ramos previously pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter in the death of Thomas. Cicinelli also pleaded not guilty to charges of manslaughter and excessive force. Both remain free on bail.
A third former Fullerton police officer charged in the case, Joe Wolfe, faces involuntary manslaughter charges in connection Thomas’ death.
Orange County District Attorney Rackauckas has said he’d like to combine Wolfe’s case with the other two officers’ charged for one trial.
Ron Thomas, the father of Kelly Thomas, said he wants that to happen too.
“But he [Wolfe] isn’t going away, he’s going to go to trial too,” Thomas previously told KPCC.
Kelly Thomas, 37, died five days after the July 5, 2011 confrontation with six officers who were responding to reports of car burglaries at the Fullerton Transportation Center.
The trial date for Ramos and Cicinelli was set by an Orange County Superior Court judge in January. It would be the first murder trial in Orange County history involving an on-duty officer in uniform.
http://www.scpr.org/news/2013/07/05/38055/kelly-thomas-beating-two-years-later-ex-fullerton/
This should be a case for enhanced chares for every cop involved if there ever was. If Calif. had the death penality they should get it but because I don`t think that they do anything less than life in max prison with no parole will be a misscarriage of justice if there is a such a thing in the courts anymore. Also just why did it take so long – over two years – to go to trial and out on bail.
Yea two years. So much for the 6th Article’s right to a speedy trial. Who cares? After the Zimmerman case, does anyone really think these cops will actually go to prison or even be considered close to getting the death penalty, especially in California? HELLL NO!
“Orange County District Attorney Rackauckas has said he’d like to combine Wolfe’s case with the other two officers’ charged for one trial.”
Well of course, the more the merrier and the easier it will be for all three of them to go free and to enrage the masses even more. It’s what the elite want now. To cause rioting in the streets. Especially after it failed miserably in Florida with the Zimmerman thing. They now want the people fighting the cops as a distraction, while they stage their wars in Syria and the Middle East. It didn’t work for the Zimmerman incident so let’s try some more until the public snaps. I’m guessing that’s what they have in mind for the time being.
Anyone care to calculate the odds of this even being in the news if Kelly Thomas HADN’T been the son of a retired cop?
Or of those scumbag cops even being charged?