Juror Explains Verdict in Murder Trial

By John Semmens -- Semi-News -- A Satirical Look at Recent News

This week, Jose Ines Garcia Zarate, the man who shot and killed Kate Steinle in 2015, was acquitted of all homicide-related charges (murder, manslaughter, negligent homicide) by a San Francisco jury. The sole charge on which jurors could agree he was guilty was “illegal possession of a firearm.”Speaking “off-the-record,” Juror X explained that “the fact that the defendant had previously been deported five times persuaded us that he was not really responsible for killing Ms. Steinle. On the one hand, several jurors blamed the government for inciting Mr. Garcia's rage. Being repeatedly forced to sneak into the country at great effort drove him to live outside the law. Such a lifestyle entails risky behavior like carrying the weapon he carelessly fired into a crowd of shoppers and tourists at a waterfront pier. If our country's borders were open Mr. Garcia would have been allowed to legally enter and would not have had to join the criminal underworld.”“Other jurors blamed the lack of gun control,” Juror X continued. “If no one were allowed to have a gun it wouldn't have been possible for Mr. Garcia to shoot anyone and Ms. Steinle would still be alive. It was felt that it would be unfair to lay all of the blame on Mr. Garcia when it is right-wing politicians who have blocked sensible gun confiscation. Logically, then, since in a sane society it would have to be illegal for anyone to have possession of a firearm, we were able to reach a consensus that convicting Mr Garcia of that charge would lead to the most just outcome that was within our power to bestow.”“All of us agreed that Ms. Steinle's death was a tragic accident,” Juror X added. “Mr. Garcia had no intent to kill her or anyone else. He was just blowing off steam. She, unfortunately, was in the wrong place at the wrong time. She wasn't murdered. As a woman she couldn't have been man-slaughtered. And negligent homicide would be a failure to use the care that a normally careful person would. Well, Mr. Garcia is not a normal person. He is a former felon and cannot be held to the same standard that a law-abiding, noncriminal person should be held.”San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee called the verdict “a clear vindication of our sanctuary policy. It sends a message to all those living in fear of being mistreated by federal immigration goons that they can come to our city and be protected by our laws and, as the decision by this enlightened and socially progressive jury has shown, by the citizens of San Francisco.”Flynn to Testify Against TrumpU.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras advised admitted liar Gen. Michael Flynn “to fully cooperate with special counsel Robert Mueller” and told him he can avoid substantial prison time “if and only if he provides substantial assistance in the prosecution of another person.” Flynn has pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about a conversation he had with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak during the post-election transition period following Donald Trump's victory over presidential rival Hillary Clinton.Insiders are reporting that Flynn has told Mueller that “Trump told me to contact the Russians and have them set up the 'accidental' tarmac meeting between Bill Clinton and Attorney-General Loretta Lynch at the Phoenix Airport in July 2016. Our thinking was that as a person with demonstrated poor impulse control, Clinton would be unable to pass up the opportunity to bribe or pressure Lynch into blocking any further investigations of his wife's negligent handling of classified materials in her personal emails.”“As it turned out, we were right,” Flynn is reported to have told Mueller. “A subsequent Russian hack of FBI emails revealed that Clinton and Lynch did discuss a deal to suppress the investigation. An added bonus from this hack was the discovery that the Obama Administration misused the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) communication intercept system to spy on the Trump campaign.”ABC's Brian Ross called Flynn's reported testimony “the 'smoking gun' that will bring down the Trump Administration. The scheme was diabolical. By exploiting Clinton's criminal vulnerability and natural desire to cover up any wrongdoing, the Trump campaign wove a web of such complexity that it completely thwarted the cover up and exposed the Obama Administration's covert efforts to listen-in on Trump and his supporters using a 'national security' ruse. The publication of the hacked emails was an invasion of privacy that deprived Secretary Clinton, President Obama, Director James Comey, and perhaps others of their constitutional right against self-incrimination. That Trump's actions were so far outside of the norms in our political system is a threat we should not tolerate. Thanks to the diligence of Special Counsel Robert Mueller, the day when things get back to normal is now a little bit closer.”Soros Says Hungary Undoing Gains of CommunismBillionaire financier and funder of Antifa leftist goons, George Soros complains that current Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban “is undoing all the progress made during the 40 years the country was ruled by Communists. After World War II, Stalin's troops ensured that the people of Hungary would enjoy the full benefits of a progressive political and social system. Orban is throwing all that away.”Particularly irritating to Soros is what he calls “Orban's perverted use of border fences and guards. He has turned the previous progressive policy on its head by using these traditional barriers to keep migrants out instead of keeping citizens in as had been the practice under Communism. There are millions of Muslims who want to come to Hungary and claim the land for Allah. Orban's racist policy of preventing their migration to Hungary violates their religious freedom. This kind of thing never would have happened if a progressive government were still in charge.”In related news, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan rejected the concept of “moderate Islam” and predicted that “Muslims will soon overwhelm the weak unbelievers who occupy lands that rightfully belong to Islam.” Erdoğan declared Islam “superior to Judaism and Christianity” and insisted that “tolerance is unacceptable. Muslims will convert or slay these kafirs until all the world is for Allah.”Meanwhile, in Islamic chat rooms on the Internet the idea of purposely targeting children for death is going viral. Sentiments such as “I wish that I could travel to Europe or America or Australia and burn their children with oil” and “I would choose a kindergarten and a maternity hospital to slaughter them” garner far more “likes” than “dislikes” in the comments sections. Nonetheless, UK's Prime Minister Theresa May maintains that “President Trump's fear of Islamic violence is a greater threat to our way of life than ISIS.”NBC Sexual Predator Seeks $30 million Payoff"Former “Today Show” star Matt Lauer is threatening to sue NBC for the $30 million balance owed for the one-and-a-half years remaining on his contract with the network. Lauer was summarily fired earlier in the week following a raft of accusations that he sexually assaulted several women in his office.Lauer's lawyer, Marvin Tushman maintains that “the firing is a breach of contract. Nothing that my client did was outside the bounds of normal behavior at the network. He wasn't the only one groping and boffing women at 30 Rock. For the NBC brass to make an issue of it after all these years and to single out Matt while letting others skate is manifestly unfair.”Tushman argued that “since this kind of behavior from the talent was tolerated over such a long period it created a sort of 'easement right' that Matt thought was a perk of the job. The fact that he was allowed to install a special door locking device to prevent his female visitors from escaping implies that management was okay with what he was doing. That none of these women publicly complained until recently was quite naturally interpreted by Matt as implied consent. And why not? He's a handsome and powerful man. Why wouldn't he think his attentions were wanted?”A prospective lawsuit isn't Lauer's only option for blunting the financial impacts of his unemployment. He is rumored to be pitching a “tell all” book deal with several publishers. “I'm thinking that 'Lauer's Ladies' might be a good title for both a book and a movie,” the former “Today Show” host mused.In related news, Fox News personality Geraldo Rivera sort of apologized to Bette Midler after she posted a video from 1991 in which she accused him of drugging and groping her in the 1970s. “We newsmen work in a flirty business,” he asserted. “I like to think of myself as more of a caresser or fondler than a groper. As I recall, Bette was unconscious at the time. So her characterization of me as a 'groper' seems harsh and unfair, but I'm a big enough man to take responsibility and I apologize if she feels that I violated her.”Councilwoman Wants to Outlaw Bullet-Proof GlassPhiladelphia City Councilwoman Cindy Bass is pushing an ordinance that would bar retailers from having bullet-proof glass block customers' access to store employees. The glass is common in convenience markets that serve high-crime sectors of the city.“Bullet-proof glass is an insult to minorities,” Bass contends. “Lots of businesses in these same neighborhoods—barber shops and bars, for example—don't have these barriers. That's the neighborly way to run a business. If these convenience markets aren't going to be neighborly voluntarily we need to have a law that forces them.”Rich Kim, whose family has owned a deli in the city for the last 20 years sees the bullet-proof glass as “a common sense safety measure. It protects employees and discourages robbers. Outlawing it will lead to more crime and more dead bodies.”Bass characterized Kim's objections as “racist. He wouldn't be saying these things if all of his customers were Asians. He only wants the barriers to keep black men from obtaining the money they need to feed their families.” As an alternative she recommended that “Kim and others like him should buy more insurance to cover the losses from theft. If they're not willing to do that they should get out of the business.”A Satirical Look at Recent NewsJohn Semmens is a retired economist who has written a weekly political satire for The Arizona Conservative since 2005. He says working on his satires is one of the ways he tries to honor the liberties our Founding Fathers tried to protect.Please do us a favor. If you use material created by The Arizona Conservative, give us credit and DO NOT change the context. Thank you.