friend who is a lawyer wrote this recently:
"Of all the police-related killings of citizens recently, only #MichaelBrown's falls within the purview of a justified action, in that the allegations are and were that the officer met force with force. Whether you believe this to be true is a completely different story, and I've written for The 11th Hour on how affirmative defenses should be raised in public trials, not in backroom grand jury proceedings, so the public can evaluate the candor of the accused.
Make no mistake: #FreddieGray, #EricGarner, #WalterScott, and others had the right to have a judge and jury determine their guilt and their sentences. Regardless of their transgressions, past, present, or ongoing, none of them committed any offense for which the state had the authority to take their lives. So, while conservative pundits go on their tirades defaming the dead, remember they died for probationary offenses, not for capital offenses."