Florida teen given life sentence for killing two Brits

[Kitsunegari]

They must have been really drunk to start wandering around in the projects, i guess they don't have these in the UK?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-17540508

An American teenager has been jailed for life after being found guilty of the first degree murder of two British tourists in Florida.
James Cooper, 25, from Warwickshire, and James Kouzaris, 24, from Northampton, were shot in Sarasota.
The pair, who met at Sheffield University, were killed after drunkenly wandering into the Newtown area in the early hours of 16 April 2011.

hate crime?

Washington testified that Tyson said he intended to rob the two men, but the men said they had no money.


‘He said “Well since you ain’t got no money I got something for your ass,”’ Washington recalled Tyson saying on the day after the killings.

Kouzaris and Cooper were in Sarasota on a three-week holiday. On April 15, they went to dinner and then had drinks in downtown Sarasota.

Mr Kouzaris was from Northampton and Mr Cooper was from Hampton Lucy, Warwick.
The pair went to two bars and left on foot early in the morning of April 16, and somehow strayed into a neighborhood known for its high crime rates.
Witnesses say they saw Cooper and Kouzaris walking shirtless and stumbling through the neighbourhood followed by two men, one with a red bandanna around part of his face.


Tyson told Washington that the men begged for their lives and one said, ‘please let me go home, I’m lost,’ she said.
Recounted Washington: ‘He shot one of them in the side and one of them fell instantly and the other one was crying for his life. He shot him.’

Also on Monday, another witness, Jermaine Bane, said Tyson accidentally called him the night of the slayings, and Bane heard Tyson say to someone ‘Who are those crackers walking past the park?’ Shortly after that, Bane testified he heard gunshots. He described a cracker as a white person.

His friend Mr Bane today told the court he received several phone calls from Tyson both before and after he heard gunshots in the early hours of April 16.
He also told the court when police arrived to search Tyson's house later that day, he saw the teenager - then 16 - throw something into a friend's car.

[CDMan477]

I had almost forgotten about this? It took nearly a year for this to come to fruition?

[Kitsunegari]

I had almost forgotten about this? It took nearly a year for this to come to fruition?

Well one of his friends came forth and told how he basically admitted to it, but the physical evidence was pretty overwhelming as well.

Shawn Tyson allegedly made the confession to Marvin Gaines before giving him shell casings and a gun to bury for him.
"He pulled me to the side. He asked me did I hear what happened," Mr Gaines said on the fourth day of the trial in Sarasota. "I told him, 'No.'"
He said Tyson then asked him: "You didn't hear about them people getting killed back there?"
When he said no again, Tyson said: "Oh bra, I did that."
The 17-year-old is accused of killing James Kouzaris, 24, and James Cooper, 25, after they drunkenly walked into a rundown public housing estate of Sarasota known as The Courts in the early hours of April 16, last year.

[mrmouth]

"Crackers" isn't racist. I mean, it is, but you know.

[CDMan477]

"Crackers" isn't racist. I mean, it is, but you know.

Cracker


Context is everything I guess.

[The Despondent Mind]

So how is this relevant ?

[Prosaic Visitant]

lol, cracker.

[Exarch]

how can "crackers" be on par with the N word? it's not like white ppl have been enslaved en masse like most african americans.

@topic,
is this supposed to be related to that florida killing that's making all sorts of fuss on the airwaves?

[xcorps]

how can "crackers" be on par with the N word? it's not like white ppl have been enslaved en masse like most african americans.

@topic,
is this supposed to be related to that florida killing that's making all sorts of fuss on the airwaves?

So racism is only relevant from one point of view. Gotcha.

[CDMan477]

how can "crackers" be on par with the N word? it's not like white ppl have been enslaved en masse like most african americans.

Which ones Exarch? I've yet to meet any myself. Promoting double standards and different lvls of racism or bigotry only helps to prolong those feelings. Why should any person be subjected to racism simply because their race hasn't been "enslaved en masse" within recent history?

@topic,
is this supposed to be related to that florida killing that's making all sorts of fuss on the airwaves?

It's completely unrelated.

[Phalanx300]

how can "crackers" be on par with the N word? it's not like white ppl have been enslaved en masse like most african americans.

@topic,
is this supposed to be related to that florida killing that's making all sorts of fuss on the airwaves?

So your saying they should get special treatment because of their ethnicy? Sounds pretty racist to me. Racism is flawed.

(What a joke, previous post got removed because apparantly saying is wrong but cracker is good.)

[athanaric]

how can "crackers" be on par with the N word? it's not like white ppl have been enslaved en masse like most african americans.

Ah, so Sparta, the Gallic campaigns, and the centuries of slave raiding by nomadic tribes or Vikings or Barbary pirates never happened. Well that's a relief to know.

[Cat-astrophic]

how can "crackers" be on par with the N word? it's not like white ppl have been enslaved en masse like most african americans.

Slave trade already existed in african kingdoms before the arrival of european kingdoms. Slaves were bought from africans that, themselves, captured them... So not trying to justify anything here, just pointing out there is no "evil race" or "innocent/pure race" in history.

[The Unknown General]

how can "crackers" be on par with the N word? it's not like white ppl have been enslaved en masse like most african americans.

@topic,
is this supposed to be related to that florida killing that's making all sorts of fuss on the airwaves?

You were saying? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_sl...he_slave_trade

[harrow]

You were saying? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_sl...he_slave_trade

Jolly good post Chap.

I would also like to state that Slavery, is still very much active throughout the world today and it affects all races and colours. There was a case recently where there were some brits being used as slaves and being traded by Gypsies.

I hate the whole African Slavery argument. It's such an over used argument that only affects one race where as in reality most nations have had an equal amount of suffering throughout history.

[Imperial]

how can "crackers" be on par with the N word? it's not like white ppl have been enslaved en masse like most african americans.

?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TG4f9zR5yzY#t=120s

[s.rwitt]

how can "crackers" be on par with the N word? it's not like white ppl have been enslaved en masse like most african americans.

@topic,
is this supposed to be related to that florida killing that's making all sorts of fuss on the airwaves?

"Most" African Americans have never been enslaved, nor do they know anyone who has been enslaved. Unless they know actual Africans, of course. Then they may know some former slaves.

[Dubh the dark]

The families also criticised the Sarasota court system that freed Tyson after a judge warned the teenager was a danger to the public following the earlier shooting, in which no one was hurt.

In the statement, the families said: "The evil of the killer is one thing, but the fact is, he would not have been on the streets had instructions to keep him incarcerated been passed from one judge to another."

When the mistake came to light the Mayor of Sarasota, Kelly Kirschener, vowed the city's prosecutors would never let anything similar happen again.

Some questions to be answered on how the killer came to be released in the first place.

[Imperial]

Some questions to be answered on how the killer came to be released in the first place.

People should stay in prison for life on some hunch that they might get into more trouble?

[Dubh the dark]

People should stay in prison for life on some hunch that they might get into more trouble?

Of course not, but in this case it seems there was a technical screw-up of some sort.