15 years in prison for white supremacist gunman who shot 5 Jamar Clark protesters in Minneapolis...

stringer bell
stringer bell Members Posts: 26,212 ✭✭✭✭✭
http://www.startribune.com/sentencing-today-for-gunman-who-shot-5-jamar-clark-protesters/420485043/#1
Allen Scarsella was sentenced Wednesday to 15 years in prison for shooting five black men at a 2015 demonstration following the death of Jamar Clark.

A jury found Scarsella guilty in early February of first-degree assault and riot for shooting the Black Lives Matter encampment participants outside the Minneapolis Police Department’s Fourth Precinct following the death of Clark, who was shot and killed in a struggle with police.

The Hennepin County attorney’s office said it would seek the maximum 20 years in prison for Scarsella, but County Attorney Mike Freeman has noted that 12 to 17 years would be more likely.

At a packed hearing in Hennepin County District Court, Judge Hilary Caliguiri handed down the 182-month sentence after the defense for a contrite Scarsella asked for probation. Throughout his February trial, Scarsella argued that he feared for his life and shot in self-defense.

“The fact that others were injured because of something I did weighs heavily on my heart everyday,” Scarsella said during a brief statement to the court.

Caliguiri was unmoved when handing down the sentence.

“I truly didn’t realize that in this day and age … people held such racist, repugnant ideas,” she said.

Several onlookers, some of whom addressed the court, remained angry that Scarsella wasn’t charged with a more serious crime like attempted murder.

“Hell, if I shot five white people, I’d be charged with first degree murder, second degree murder,” said James Clark, Jamar Clark’s father

Scarsella, who is white, and three friends went there that night to live-stream the protest. It was a site he had been to a few days earlier, when he and another friend, Julio Suarez, masked their faces and live-streamed themselves driving down to the protest, using racial slurs along the way.

“We are locked and loaded,” Suarez said in a video, holding up a handgun. “We’re going to make the fire rise.”

That video circulated online, causing protesters to become suspicious of anyone who came to the encampment with a mask.

“More from the judge: I don’t believe for a second that you wore a mask that night because you were cold…,” Caliguiri said. “The only saving grace is that your shots did not ? any targets.”

Scarsella and his friends covered their faces when they showed up a few days later. Protesters quickly went up to them and demanded they take off their masks, according to trial testimony. When they refused, the four went north up a street as protesters followed. The pursuit stopped, but then several protesters said they heard someone from Scarsella’s group shout the N-word.

“Me and a group of people started running toward them,” said Wesley Martin, one of the shooting victims.

About a block from where the group of four started, Scarsella opened fire and unloaded his magazine on a group of about seven protesters.

Cameron Clark, Wesley Martin, along with Teven King, Walter Hoskins and Draper Larkins were shot that night. King suffered the most serious injuries, requiring emergency surgery after the shooting. The bullet is still inside him after a doctor deemed it too dangerous to remove.

Under questioning by his attorney during the trial, Scarsella said he shot in self-defense, arguing that his life was in danger from the oncoming protesters. He said he fired when he thought he saw one of them pull out a knife.

“They were very aggressive, and they were coming after us, and I didn’t know what was going to happen next,” he said.

None of the shooting victims who testified said they saw anyone pull a knife on Scarsella.


Along with Scarsella, Nathan Gustavsson, 22, of Hermantown; Daniel Macey, 27, of Pine City, and Joseph Backman, 28, of Eagan stand charged with second-degree riot and aiding an offender. Their cases remain open.

Whitey got off easy as usual.. Which weird because justice is supposed to be blind in Amerikkka.. Lmao...

Comments

  • D. Morgan
    D. Morgan Members Posts: 11,662 ✭✭✭✭✭
    All he got was 15 years and his lawyer was a public defender and this actually went to trial.

    The complexion for the protection is some all-time GOAT ? in this country.
  • Mister B.
    Mister B. Members, Writer Posts: 16,172 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited April 2017
    Wait, so he was brought up on first-degree assault charges? How would this NOT be considered as five counts of attempted murder?

    Cac privilege strikes again. Maybe the prison gangs can shorten that sentence for us.
  • gns
    gns Members Posts: 21,285 ✭✭✭✭✭
    “I truly didn’t realize that in this day and age … people held such racist, repugnant ideas,” she said.
    cacs are hilarious, i swear they dont even live in the same country as blacks....mentally at least

  • stringer bell
    stringer bell Members Posts: 26,212 ✭✭✭✭✭
    http://www.startribune.com/two-plead-guilty-in-jamar-clark-protest-shooting/428043323/
    Two plead guilty in Jamar Clark protest shooting

    The shooter, Allen Scarsella, was sentenced to 15 years in prison. Prosecutors say they will seek jail time for both of the two accomplices.

    Two accomplices to a man sentenced to 15 years in prison for shooting five Black Lives Matter protesters pleaded guilty Monday, while prosecutors say they will seek jail time for both.

    Nathan Wayne Gustavsson, 23, of Hermantown, pleaded guilty to second-degree riot and aiding an offender, both felonies, and Joseph Martin Backman, 28, of Eagan pleaded guilty to gross misdemeanor aiding an offender in connection with the Nov. 23, 2015 shooting. The men were among a group that accompanied Allen “Lance” Scarsella that night to the Minneapolis 4th police precinct station, where protesters had encamped decrying the death of Jamar Clark, who was shot and killed earlier that month during a scuffle with two officers.

    Protesters were suspicious of Scarsella, who had made a video from an earlier visit to the precinct and sent several racists text messages before the shooting. After protesters surrounded the four, the group retreated and Scarsella unloaded his gun, firing eight shots and wounding five. A jury found Scarsella guilty in February of first-degree assault.

    One of the men Scarsella shot still has a bullet lodged in him after a doctor declared it too dangerous to remove.

    The Hennepin County attorney’s office says they will seek a jail sentence of 6 to 8 months for Gustavsson, who was with Scarsella at the time of the shooting, along with up to 10 years’ probation. They will ask for two years’ probation and up to 90 days in jail for Backman, who went to the precinct that night but was not with them when Scarsella fired at the protesters. Both men are scheduled for sentencing July 19.

    Gustavsson testified during Scarsella’s trial, where he tried to defend his friend and said the two were in fear for their lives after being followed by protesters. But before the shooting, Gustavsson sent a text to Scarsella saying he knew “how to make big news or get [the protesters] to disperse.”


    During his testimony, Gustavsson boasted about how fast Scarsella drew his gun on the protesters and said the protesters were “mistaken” in their beliefs about the Jamar Clark shooting.

    Gustavsson was also accused of trying to conceal and erase evidence of his involvement of the shooting after he was arrested and in jail, according to the criminal charges.

    In a text he sent after the shooting, he wrote “We’re all guilty in this.”

    Gustavsson said in an interview afterward that his decision to testify came after his attorney, family and friends all told him not to. But he said he asked himself if he could live with himself if Scarsella was convicted and he did nothing. The answer was no.

    “I can live with myself having done everything I could to help an innocent man,” he said.

    Backman texted others with him that night, instructing them “Do not talk with the cops” and that he concealed or destroyed a cellphone he was using that night, according to the criminal charges. He was also accused of taking Scarsella from the shooting scene and helping him avoid detection.


    The other man with the group that night, Daniel Macey, had all of the charges filed against him dropped by Judge Hilary Caligiuri.

    Smh @ these light ass sentences...
  • rebootx1
    rebootx1 Members Posts: 961 ✭✭✭✭
    This what I'm talking about he'll be out in about 5 years yo black ass get caught shooting 5 white people I grunantee, u will be on death row for 50 years then they will say well we spared your life so consider yourself lucky we let those 10 apeals to go through to delay yo black ass from dying