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Title: Not Guilty! Logic Prevails After the State Charged a Man With Murder for Facilitating a Pot Sale
Source:
Free Thought Project
URL Source: http://thefreethoughtproject.com/gu ... -murder-facilitating-pot-sale/
Published: Jul 30, 2015
Author: Matt Agorist
Post Date: 2015-08-01 12:36:50 by Deckard
Keywords: None
Views: 600
Comments: 6
Kyler Carricker and his mother embrace after the jury read the verdict. Witchita, KS — A bright light now brilliantly shines where there was once only darkness. An innocent man, who was being railroaded because of the state’s immoral drug war, has beaten the system, and justice has prevailed. Kyler Carricker’s world turned into a nightmare on April 17th, 2013, when he and a friend had finished work and were headed out to go fishing. The pair was stopped by a train where they ran into Carriker’s former classmate and Carriker was asked if he could find any “smoke,” meaning marijuana. Carriker said he could try, so they exchanged telephone numbers. What Carriker didn’t know was that his old classmate from school had since become an active gang member. This former classmate planned to rob Carriker and whomever else was involved in the marijuana transaction. Kyler Carriker agreed to meet his former classmate at his friend Kyle Belts’ home to introduce his former classmate and the marijuana dealer. However, the former classmate arrived with several other gang members, and later testified in court to the fact that the plan was to rob Carriker, Belts, and Ronald Betts, the marijuana dealer and brother of former Kansas state Senator Donald Betts. Almost immediately upon entering Belts’ home, the gang members began firing. Carriker and Betts were both shot and unfortunately Betts died from his injuries. According to Carriker’s family, after leaving the home, the shooter bragged to the other gang members, saying that he had “killed them all.” After the shooting, instead seeking actual justice for this killing, Carriker was charged with the murder of Betts because he acted as a middleman in the marijuana sale. In a tyrannically absurd move, the state of Kansas added marijuana offenses to the list of inherently dangerous felonies, or crimes where death is likely to occur. The law was amended on July 1, 2013, three months after the incident involving Carriker. However, the state retroactively applied this nonsense to Carriker’s case. Carriker did absolutely nothing morally wrong; he merely lined up a potential trade deal between two other people. In the process, he and his friend became victims of an armed robbery. For being victimized by gang members, Carriker was facing a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years in prison, without the possibility of parole. A child could tell you that the death of Betts was a result of the robbery and not a marijuana deal, as deals do not involve one party killing the other. However, the court has ruled that Carriker’s attorney could not use this as a defense. Despite the blatant railroading of Carricker by the local justice system, a jury found him not guilty on Thursday. Justice prevailed and the state’s asinine and tyrannical attempt at charging Carricker with murder was foiled. Thanks to a rational and intelligent jury, this loving husband and father of two will now be able to live out a normal life instead of spending the next 20 years in prison. 
He harmed no one.
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#1. To: Deckard (#0)
http://www.kake.com/home/headlines/Kyler-Carriker-verdict-320182891.html Updated: Thu 10:23 PM, Jul 30, 2015 WICHITA, Kan. — Jurors have reached a not guilty verdict in the murder trial of a man accused in a deadly drug deal. Kyler Carriker was one of five men charged in the 2013 death of Ronald Betts. Specifically, Carriker was charged under the state's felony murder rule. Kansas law says if you participate in anything from selling illegal drugs to armed robbery, referred to as inherently violent felonies, and someone is killed in the process, you can be charged with felony murder - even if you weren't directly involved in the killing. Carriker was charged with murder, as investigators say he acted as a middleman in setting up the marijuana deal that led to Betts' death. Dozens of people were packed into the courtroom to hear Carriker's fate. After it was read, Carriker's family, friends and supporters celebrated. Carriker left the courtroom and hugged his mother, former Kansas gubernatorial and Wichita mayoral candidate Jennifer Winn. She and other protesters said from the beginning, marijuana offenses should not be grouped in the same category as inherently violent felonies. The jury began deliberating on Wednesday and reached the verdict shortly before 3 p.m. Thursday. Had Carriker been convicted, he faced a minimum of 20 years in prison. In response to the verdict, Sedgwick Co. District Attorney Marc Bennett said in a statement: "Long after protesters find another cause, prosecutors in my office will be standing up in court seeking justice for victims of crime based on Kansas law. In this case, Mr. Carriker set up a drug deal... The actual evidence presented in the trial was that Mr. Carriker brought a gun to this deal. Despite claims to the contrary, this case was never about marijuana. This case was brought against people who brought guns to an illegal drug deal during which a man was killed." The verdict comes on the same day deputies took another man into custody for making a threat against the courthouse if there was a guilty verdict. http://dailyhaze.com/kansas-felony-murder-law-called-wrong-in-carriker-trial/?shared=email&msg=fail Written By: Mike Shatz via Kansas Exposed A Sedgwick County jury acquitted Kyler Carriker on the charge of felony murder, yesterday, after prosecutors Trinity Muth and Jennifer Amyx presented their case. At the crux of Muth and Amyx’ argument was that the jury was required, by law, to deliver a guilty verdict for felony murder, if the state proved that Carriker arranged the drug deal that ultimately ended in Ronald Betts’ death. However, the jury determined that Carriker could be guilty of arranging that deal, and still be innocent of felony murder. Defense attorney Sarah Swain argued that the drug deal did not cause Betts’ death, but that instead, a robbery, committed by Dennis Haynes, John Carter, and Lorenzo Spires, was the inherently dangerous felony that killed Betts. In what is being lauded as a brilliant move, Swain did not present a case in Carriker’s defense. Swain used her cross-examination of the state’s witnesses, and her closing argument to convince the jury that, despite what the prosecution, and even what the judge had told them, that they, the jurors, were the finders of fact in this case, and that they had the right to decide whether the drug deal, or the robbery caused Betts’ death. After delivering their verdict, members of the jury informed Carriker and his family that they felt that the “law is wrong”. That same jury did convict Carriker on the much lesser charge of possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance for arranging the drug deal, but refused to accept the prosecution’s stance, and the judge’s direct order, which required them to also find Carriker guilty of felony murder. The felony murder rule states that if a defendant is found to be in the commission of an inherently dangerous felony that results in the death of an individual, that the defendant is just as responsible for murder as the person who pulls the trigger, but Swain, and the defendant’s mother, Jennifer Winn, along with the jury in this case, disagreed. Swain told reporters that she felt that justice had been served, and that her client was being held to account for his actions, and only his actions. Jennifer Winn, who ran against Kansas Governor Sam Brownback in the 2014 gubernatorial election, says that no one should be punished for the actions of another person.
The drug lovers are like the Ferguson animals. Same mentality... if we aren't allowed to break the law, everyone will pay.
First you say you are in favor of legalization, now you want to see potheads railroaded in court for a crime they didn't commit. Get back on your ant-Schizo drugs before you hurt yourself. As far as threatening the court - it's about time someone stood up to the black-robed tyrants.
Actually, in this case he did commit the crime, the judge so instructed the jury as a matter of law, and the jury, as is their right, practiced jury nullification regarding a law they disagreed with. They still convicted him of "possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance for arranging the drug deal."
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Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/LatestKyler Carriker found not guilty of felony murder
By: KAKE News Kansas ‘Felony Murder’ law called wrong in Carriker trial.
DailyHaze
7-31-2015
Photo Credit: Mike Shatz
#2. To: nolu chan (#1)
The verdict comes on the same day deputies took another man into custody for making a threat against the courthouse if there was a guilty verdict.
#3. To: GrandIsland (#2)
The drug lovers are like the Ferguson animals.
#6. To: Deckard, GrandIsland (#3)
First you say you are in favor of legalization, now you want to see potheads railroaded in court for a crime they didn't commit.
Replies to Comment # 6.
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