ANAHEIM PD RELEASE KLANSMAN, SAYING HE STABBED THREE PEOPLE IN SELF DEFENSE

[ForgoTheConsequence]

Source: OC Weekly

All five members of the Ku Klux Klan arrested for their involvement in the Pearson Park melee on Saturday are now walking free. Charles Donner, the only Klansmen held over the weekend, got released yesterday even though he stood accused of stabbing three counter-protesters, spilling their blood all over the sidewalk. "The release was based on the video evidence and statements that present convincing evidence of self-defense," Anaheim police spokesman Sgt. Daron Wyatt tells the Weekly.


An updated press statement sent out by the department yesterday evening noted that the Orange County District Attorney's office will review the case and make the final call on whether criminal charges will be filed or not. Further review of video footage by police led to the arrest of a juvenile counter-protester yesterday after he had been initially released. He's being held at Orange County Juvenile Hall for assault with a deadly weapon.









Read more: http://www.ocweekly.com/news/anaheim-pd-release-klansman-saying-he-stabbed-three-people-in-self-defense-7008232

[KansDem]

1. Other news sources report the victim was stabbed with a flag pole

[okaawhatever]

17. One was stabbed with a flag pole. I think that one was stabbed with both a flagpole and a knife. The

others were stabbed with knives.

[procon]

2. Isn't that decision usually up to a jury? nt

[Igel]

3. Sort of.

1. Police decide whether to hold. To some extent this is predicting the outcome of (2) and the flight risk.

2. DA decides whether to charge--is there enough evidence, does the DA want to charge.

3. Judge decides if there's enough evidence for trial. Bail?

4. Then trial.

(1) and (2) amount to prosecutorial discretion.

[tabasco]

4. Klanaheim.

I think the investigation will be continued by another agency.

[branford]

5. On what basis and for what purpose?

There appears to ample video, photographic and eyewitness testimony of the entire incident showing the counter-protesters initiating physical violence against the KKK members who were otherwise peaceful. The fact that the KKK has racist, vile and offensive views is totally immaterial. It's not a defense or legal justification to attack them.

Law enforcement would not have released KKK members and still holding multiple counter-protesters (and seeking others) if the evidence wasn't clear, particularly while some are criticizing the police for insufficient manpower and not preventing the incident.

Are you suggesting or implying the police are part of a cover-up? If so, what's your evidence, what would be the basis of a state or federal investigation? I also suggest you read a few more of the many articles about the incident other than the snarky OC Weekly piece in the OP.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

8. Basically, the Klan got what they wanted

This is why they troll.

[TipTok]

9. People shouldn't be stupid enough to give it to them...

[branford]

11. That's not a defense.

All the attackers managed to accomplish is turn the KKK into legitimate victims, get themselves serious injured, and will likely be convicted of felonies.

The attackers weren't just violent criminals, they were stupid and gullible violent criminals.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

14. Where did I say it was a defense?

The KKK are trolls hiding behind the ACLU and have been since Skokie. Just like Westboro. But I question if they also have provocateurs afoot making sure people get violent. Sorry I'm not calling them victims fast enough for you. They are fucking cowards.

[branford]

16. You are free to "question" as much as you like.

However, do you have any actual evidence that the KKK instigated these particular hostilities other than voicing offensive opinions? There seems to be a multitude of videos, photographs and eyewitnesses, and the KKK clearly appears to have followed all laws and acted peacefully, while the counter-protesters seemed to have planned their violence in advance and carried-out their violent intentions with abandon.

I'm Jewish, and you certainly don't need to convince me that the KKK are vile and irredeemable. However, even the most vile and offensive scum have the right to free speech and protection from assault.

The KKK does not "hide behind" the ACLU (although Skokie involved Nazis, not the KKK), and more than BLM, Planned Parenthood or communists and socialists hid behind the First Amendment when they advocate their views in many areas of the country where they are effectively anathema. We have reached this point through many generations of speech jurisprudence supported by jurists across the political spectrum and widely cherished by most people in this country.

The alternative is permitting the government to decide what constitutes acceptable discourse, and that is antithetical to fundamental American values and culture. Also, would you have liked President Reagan or Bush to have had such power, no less a potential President Trump or Cruz.

Whether you like it or not, in this instance, the KKK members definitely appear to be legitimate victims of a violent assault, with no potential defenses for the attackers like self-defense. The counter-protesters should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Victims need not be sympathetic or likable to still be victims. To believe otherwise is decidedly illiberal and politically catastrophic to Democratic priorities in areas ranging from criminal justice and anti-discrimination to refugee and migrant policies.

The counter-protesters hatred of the KKK does not make then sympathetic to me in any way. Vigilantes and thugs are unwelcome in civilized society, and I have no more use for them than the Klansmen at the demonstration.

[Yo_Mama]

20. That's what so confuses me about this story. It seems like this was a hate-mob, not a

counter-protest.

I very much doubt that the guy who studies hate groups is making it all up, and there is video also. It seems as if some in the counter group came prepared to murder someone, or at least make a darned good attempt at it.

It's not even as if this had time to escalate.

I keep thinking there must be more to this story.

[Yo_Mama]

19. Brian Levin's testimony seems to say no - plus video

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-klan-rally-in-anaheim-erupts-in-violence-one-man-stabbed-20160227-story.html

Brian Levin, director of Cal State San Bernardino's Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism, said he was standing near the KKK members when several protesters attacked them with two-by-fours and other weapons.
...
“It was the longest few minutes between when the SUV was attacked and when the police responded in droves,” Levin said.

“I think the police response saved their lives,” he added, referring to Klan members. “They would have been torn limb from limb.”

Self-defense is self-defense.

But what in the bleep?? I still think this is the strangest story of the year so far.

[NickB79]

6. Video like this didn't help any prosecution going forward

While the KKK are shit-eating scum of the earth, pretty much all the videos coming out of the attack show the anti-KKK protesters attacking first, and the KKK members stabbing after they were outnumbered, punched and swung upon.

[branford]

7. It will definitely help the prosecution...

of the anti-KKK protesters.

I don't have to like the KKK, and most certainly do not, to believe people violently attacking others because they don't like their speech deserve to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

It's not too difficult to believe both the KKK and the violent counter-protesters are all thugs that civilized society can do without.

[ForgoTheConsequence]

10. One has a history of murder and intimidation.....

They are not equal. In my opinion this was self defense on the part of the protestors. We allowed this to exist before and it lead to church bombings and lynchings.

[GummyBearz]

12. Who in the video do you know has a history of murder?

Guilty by association isn't law of the land, thankfully. I have a cousin who has done some really bad things. Good thing you can't put me behind bars for crimes I didn't commit.

[branford]

13. Except the counter-protesters actions do not consitute self-defense anywhere in the USA

(or most of the civilized world), and we have free speech in America, even for those who have vile and offensive ideas.

In our country, you can peacefully demonstrate in support of Nazis, the KKK, ISIS, or any other reprehensible groups or idea. This is well established in law for generations.

You are not allowed to attack people simply because you're offended by their ideas or speech. Unless you can demonstrate that these particular KKK members threatened those particular counter-protesters with death or serious physical harm with more than professed racism, no matter how vile, the protesters have no legal defense. At best, they're violent vigilantes who do nothing more than manage to turn scum like the KKK into legitimate victims.

Always remember that we don't need protections for speech we agree with, and liberal free speech jurisprudence was largely advocated by liberal jurists, often to protect left-wing groups in the USA like socialists and communists. This same jurisprudence protects groups like the KKK also protect we generally favor on DU like BLM, even though they too are widely reviled in many areas of the country.

As I stated earlier, I can simultaneously loathe both the KKK and people who violently oppose free speech, and am mature, intelligent and cognizant enough to realize when one or the other clearly breaches the criminal law.

[brett_jv]

15. Couldn't have said it better ... well done ... here and elsewhere on this subject ...

Your point(s) are a perfect example of 'intellectual consistency' ... a concept more people need to apply ... with greater consistency.

[Democat]

18. Should it be legal for Africans to kill Americans?

Because America has a history of slavery and colonialism?