An all white jury found former cop Robert Lawlor innocent of murdering 18 year old Jashon Bryant while on patrol in 2005.
Some reactions by Jashon’s family to the verdict:
“A policeman has license to kill black people in our neighborhood and get away with it” -Keith Thomas, Bryant’s father.
“We still live in the slavery days. Do what you want to the niggers out here on the street, because you’re going to get away with it” - Keith Thomas
“It wasn’t no justice”, “That man killed my son, and he got applauded for it.” -Jashon’s mother, Cynthia
Here’s audio from the Bryant family confronting Lawlor: http://www.courant.com/community/hartford/hc-lawlor-mp3,0,6913765.mp3file
Folks should heed the words of Jashon Bryant’s father, who said that if any of his other children are shot by the cops, he won’t hesitate to grab a gun and even the score. The all white jury who acquitted Lawlor today just upped the ante in Hartford.
Violence will never solve anything, I know the Mom & Dad are outraged, it was their son. I personally feel, the jury should have had equal amounts of Black Jurors, Hispanic Jurors, and Whites. If the three nationalities came up with the same verdict, I think it would have been accepted, and violence would not be an issue in the aftermath.
How, in this day and age, do we have an all white jury for such a racially charged case? I would be interested to see what the economic makeup of this jury was. The pain in Jashon’s sisters voice is heartbreaking. My heart goes out to them all.
Luis, in my view the manipulation of juries is linked to the empathy double standard that we saw play out during the Sonia Sotomayor Supreme Court confirmation hearings. People of color are excluded from juries if they are thought to be too empathetic toward a black or Hispanic defendant, while whites aren’t held to the same standard.
How did this case end up with an all-white jury? This makes no sense at all to me. Neither does the verdict.
I’m going to talk to one of Jashon’s family members and see if I can get some answers.
I just spoke with one of Jashon’s relatives. They’re still absorbing what happened and haven’t discussed next steps yet. This person assured me that they will be in touch once they decide on a course of legal action. This isn’t over.
White jurors = unbiased, jurors of color = biased.
By the way, it should be noted that the Courant website censored the audio clip. They have cut out the part where Keith Thomas, Jashon’s father, used cuss words and really stuck it to Lawlor. If anyone out there captured the whole recording, let me know.
I’m so angry by all this. I thought it would fade by this morning, but it hasn’t. So I can’t even imagine what Jashon’s family must be going through.
I know I shouldn’t be surprised by the verdict. That this shit happens all the time throughout the country. Fucking institutional racism!
Some commenter over at the Courant opined that Lawlor was represented by a jury of his peers (white suburbanites). Fine. Then the next time a POC from the North End is in court they should have a representative jury of their peers.
The streets are really hot about this verdict – I’ll just leave it at that… I have seen this scenario play out my whole life – white cop murders black male, white cop goes free. The cops are a gang, straight up.
Given Eddie Perez’s “plea for calm” yesterday(which is fucked up in and of itself), I was wondering last night if there would be more or less than usual cops patrolling the streets.
I just found out that Perez’s lawyer was helping with Lawlor’s defense, so he can go jump in the lake, for real. I don’t know about the amount of cops who are on patrol, but the community is heated right now.
If you get a chance read the CSAO report you can see how what Lawlor said were contradicted by his own police partner, who was there at the time.
http://www.ct.gov/csao/cwp/view.asp?A=1802&Q=314666
Thanks, David.
WTF! Forensics showed that Jashon had AT LEAST one hand on his head at the time of the shooting.
Yeah, and the report finds that the ATF agent, coroner,forensic examiner and the detective that Lawlor called all contradict Lawlor’s statements. He’s clearly lying. The physical evidence also contradicts his testimony – still, he walks.
I can’t stop thinking about this. It is just so wrong. There has got to be some way of stopping these all white juries from doing injustice. My heart goes out to Jashon’s family. What can any of us who are white do?
Richard, I think that folks of all colors should share the link to the grand jury report that David posted. I posted the link on my Facebook page. The report effectively shuts down the back and forth rhetoric that is certainly happening right now at the watercoolers and on the internet. After folks read the report, I think that real conversations can begin. My intention is to distribute the report to as many people as I can
in the coming weeks.
What white people should discuss is why is Lawlor not in prison today when the report shows that he made contradictory statements about the shooting himself, and that his testimony is contradicted by all of the other evidence in this case? Why do white cops who kill black males continue to evade criminal convictions? Why are the police four times as likely to use force against blacks than whites? How can whites who are outraged by this verdict work in their communities to hold law enforcement and the judicial system accountable? Jashon isn’t the first black male to be murdered by a cop and he definitely will not be the last.
Thanks for spreading the word – just to clarify, Dave Rozza wrote the article on the verdict.
I just got the word that Mothers United Against Violence are holding a rally in support of the Bryant family (12 PM @ City Hall).
Sorry dave
Why is everyone attacking Lawlor’s credibility and not Jashon’s?
Is a cop automatically a bad guy? Hearing the outrage, you’d think so.
Jashon was not on his way to church when he got shot. At the very least, he and his buddy were joyriding with some cocaine in the car. That’s at the very least. No gun was found… but if he discarded it do you really think the law abiding citizens of Hartford’s North End would be above picking it up and taking it away?
I do feel bad that Jashon is no longer with us. He should have gone to jail that night- not to the morgue. Let’s all get real though- if he and his friend had been more cooperative, none of this would have happened.
J.Kent – your comment “do you really think the law abiding citizens of Hartford’s North End would be above picking it up and taking it away?” shows that you have the makings of a perfect Hartford Cop. Really! Your racist and suggestive comments are right in line with what the force is looking for!
Jashon had coke on him. No weapon and he died for that. So yeah…Lawlor’s credibility should be scrutinized. You seem to not understand that the use of force the police in this country use increases the violence in cities, not the other way around. A cop got away with murder. And people all over the country should be upset about this. But until this starts happening to white college students or people in the wealthy suburbs (you know…where coke is flowing like apple juice) its just going to continue to be a city problem with the “he should have been more cooperative” argument. that is really FUCKING SAD.
J. Kent, I would like to thank you for your comments, which support the argument for having racially balanced juries. Again, folks should take the time to read the ten page grand jury report,which provides the facts surrounding Jashon’s death.
Lawlor changed his story three times. First, he told ATF agent Daniel Prather moments after the shooting that he fired his weapon because “something wasn’t right”. He never mentioned seeing a gun. He then told a detective over the police radio that “…they fucking pulled a gun on me.” When the supervisor of Lawlor’s intelligence unit arrived on the scene, Lawlor told him that he saw Jashon point a gun at him. During an interview with investigators, Lawlor said that he was “positive” Jashon had a gun, but he never actually saw a gun at any time after he approached the vehicle that Jashon and Brandon Henry were riding in. Prather said that he never saw a gun, never felt that his life was in danger and did not observe any activity by Jashon and Henry that would constitute criminal activity.
I would advise sensible people not to engage in fights with bigots. The grand jury report speaks for itself.
You know, I actually don’t disagree with most of you on one of your main points- I wish there had been African-Americans on Lawlor’s jury.
The reason I say this is that I believe that Lawlor would have been found not guilty regardless of the racial makeup of the jury. Perhaps people would have seen the jury’s verdict as more legitimate if the racial composition of the jury was different.
Characterizing anyone who disagrees with your perspective as a bigot is unproductive. If Lawlor were black and Jashon were white my support would still rest with Lawlor.
I hear many people attacking Lawlor supporters for making generalizations- then they go ahead and make generalizations about cops. Someone suggested I’m a racist and then said that because of this I would make a perfect Hartford Cop. Even if you don’t agree with what Lawlor did, why would you insult Hartford’s finest like that- many of whom are not white and almost all of whom do a terrific job?
Look, I understand why you didn’t like my comments about the law abiding citizens of Hartford’s North End. I said that for a reason. MOST of the people in Hartford’s North End are law abiding decent people. But there are some bad apples. It was wrong of me to make a generalization about that population for that reason. Likewise, MOST cops do a terrific job. Some don’t. Yet, many people here hold up the people of Hartford’s North End as some sort of paragon of virtue while simultaneously bashing the police.
I will say this one more time. On one hand, we had a cop with a good long record of honorable service. I haven;t heard anyone say this Lawlor’s prior record was less than adequate. On the other hand, we have a cokehead or drug dealer. Why would we give the benefit of the doubt to the kid?
I think that it’s a good thing when people like J.Kent post, because his comments underscore the pathological nature of racism. Note that even when faced with the facts of the grand jury report, he continues to shift the blame to Jashon Bryant and Brandon Henry, in effect saying that they got what they deserved.
J.Kent will not move beyond bigoted rhetoric and address the facts of the case outlined in the report because, he just can’t. I’m sure that he will respond again, continue to play the victim and shift the blame to those who point out the obtuse nature of his comments.
OK, fine- I’m done here. It is obvious that you don’t want real discussion here. You just want people who share the opinion you already have.
If you grand jury report is the end all and be all, then lets do away with trial by jury altogether. You picked the group that gave you the result you wanted and deemed them the most credible.
The following remarks are not sarcastic, please don’t read them as such. I thought you may want to have a real discussion here and it’s apparent you don’t. That’s OK- there’s nothing wrong with that. I will just post elsewhere. I’ve seen the posts that people put on some police officer web-boards- they’re as appallingly narrow minded as the ones here. It just so happens that this board is home of their ideological opposites.
I sincerely hope everyone here and Jashon’s family will someday come to feel that police are here to protect them- not hurt them.
Obviously, J. Kent refuses to acknowledge the argument that everyone who disagrees with the verdict has been making all week, which is that the jury selection process is flawed at the very least, if not outright racist. The facts of the case are what they are – rhetoric is irrelevant.
One other thing – I think it’s important folks remember that J. Kent is a potential juror.
If Lawlor wasn’t on the streets that night, Jashon would still be alive. What this verdict says is that any time a cop feels “threatened”, they are allowed to shoot you dead. That to me is crazy.
The U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division has launched an investigation into the trial. The CT chapter of the NAACP requested that U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder look into the case. The Bryant family and the NAACP will hold a press conference tomorrow at the U.S. Attorney’s office, 450 Main Street in Hartford.
What time is the press conference?
4:30 PM.
There will also be a rally this morning, 11 AM at the State Capitol to protest Gov. Rell’s social services cuts.