Saul and others,
It's pretty astounding to me that a number of you on here are seeing this as a very cut and dry case...fully okay giving nearly all three of these guys serious convictions. Did you all agree with the Derek Chauvin conviction too?
Both of these reek of mob rule "justice" and show the mental brain rot of untruths from the get go. This case came off of the heels of George Floyd hysteria. Hell these guys were initially let go, and then all of the video and the false narrative was spun -- "black guy jogging and white guys loaded up and shot him in cold blood." I believe the video emerged slightly before George Floyd. Between that mental plant, the intimidation by activist groups and everything that has happened since, then this was another sacrifice to the ideology.
Would I have approached Ahmaud in the exact way these guys did? No, most likely not. I would have followed close behind, watched and potentially called police to question him. Or approach with a camera and question him to get his face on video and let him know he's being watched.
No one goes poking around someone else's property multiple times, sometimes at night just out of curiosity. Once, sure...but not multiple times (5 times). He was 13 miles from his home. Must have been training for a marathon I guess if that's really the case. I still have doubts he was just running through the neighborhood. No probable cause huh? A guy across the street saw him poking around, then he took off running when he saw that guy notice him. Do you recall that video of a muslim guy who's walking with a young British girl? The shit just didn't seem right...luckily someone approached and the guy ran off. The little girl was scared to death. Gut instinct man. Things can seem off, body language, reactions, etc. Maybe someone is wrong occasionally, and maybe trying to make a citizens arrest isn't the answer, but this notion there was no probable cause just because they didn't witness the crime is weak.
But despite what I would have done in THAT case, I can imagine sometime in the future where cops are all on the Left or there are no cops, and as Samseau pointed out, what do you do then? Just let people do whatever they want in your neighborhood? Have no sense of duty? Only protect YOUR property and to hell with everything else? At some point you won't even be allowed to do that. Look at the fine edge protecting ones own property led to with the McCloskeys in St. Lewis. Look what happened to that Army guy who confronted that guy in his neighborhood who was harassing others, mentally ill or not, who then ASKED the Army guy to take care of the offender.
You guys saying "fuck these guys they all deserve what they got" aren't seeing the big picture. Just like with putting Rittenhouse through the ringer, they're trying to give a chilling effect to the noble, and have overtly been emboldening the criminal elements.
What if police had shown up and tried to apprehend Ahmaud for questioning, Ahmaud refuses to comply, he starts escalating, then ran at the cop who had his gun drawn, punched him and grabbed at his gun. Cop would have shot. Almost guaranteed.
Watch the video. Ahmaud wasn't "boxed in." He had free reign to run just about any direction, but decided to change direction and engage the one guy. Yanking someone's firearm with their finger on the trigger could set it off. At that point, who's now in the right of self defense.
Just imagine a time in the future, where you might feel it's your duty to approach or take matters on yourself. In what situation might you have that obligation? Then imagine that person or persons escalating things... not complying, etc.
Our current system is setting people up to not act, or to be raked over the coals for acting. The system, just as in the soviet system is using the criminal class to take down and "chill" the noncriminal (political enemies) class.
Last thing, maybe these guys were idiots and can't keep the details straight. That's somewhat irrelevant to my points. But if you want to question character, then just look at Ahmaud's interaction with police sometime before all of this happened. Tell me he's the nice sweet guy in the tux from the photo they display incessantly. They're programming you, you know, to think he's a nice loving guy. Not to mention, bringing a gun to a high school game in the past.