Audible gasps filled the courtroom this week when a California jury found ex-officers Manuel Ramos, who had been charged with second-degree murder, and Jay Cicinelli who was charged with excessive use of force, not guilty on all counts. The two men were police officers being charged in the beating death of a mentally ill homeless man named Kelly Thomas, a beating which was caught on camera. Over the course of the grueling 33-minute video, the two men are seen beating Thomas and tasering him repeatedly, until he is unconscious and past all recognition. “You see my fists? They’re getting ready to f— you up!” Ramos is heard shouting early on in the video and, chillingly, Thomas is heard repeatedly apologizing, shouting “Daddy, help! They’re killing me!” Thomas had committed no crime. He was left in a pool of his own blood and succumbed to his injuries five days later.
Nobody seems quite sure how the jury reached the verdict they did, but several voices are speaking up, saying that this is another instance of the mentally ill being discriminated against …
