whites and one black in the deep south stood up in the courtroom and said that black lives do matter. you came in the state of georgia, a state known for segregation, a state known for jim crow, and you turned it around. you took a young unarmed boy that they thought was worthless and you put his name in history today. leading off our discussion tonight, kirk burkhalter, criminal law professor at new york law school where he is the director of the 21st century policing project. mark claxton, director of the black law enforcement alliance. both are former nypd detectives. and paul butler, law professor at georgetown university, a former federal prosecutor and an msnbc legal analyst. gentlemen, welcome all. kirk, i ll start with you. what was your reaction to the verdict today? did you expect it based on what you saw during the trial?
law and they violated the rights and committed these criminal acts and were judged accordingly by a jury who paid attention to the facts. and paul, last question to you. the defendants are planning to appeal the verdict. but they re all facing hate crime charges. how do you see this all playing out? so you know, often people will appeal. i think that the main issue on this appeal will be the georgia citizen arrest law. but especially in a high-profile case like this both the judge and the prosecutors conduct the trial with an eye towards the appeal. prosecutors call that protecting their verdict. and the reality is that guilty verdicts are rarely overturned. that is a good thing to know. paul butler, kirk burkhalter, and marq claxton, thanks to all of you for starting off our discussion tonight. we have much more ahead on today s verdict.
and show the world that it is 2021, and in glenn county a black man can finally get equal justice under the law. well, kirk, let s talk more about race. the judge pointed out racial bias in jury s election and vice president kamala harris noticed the racist tropes used by the defense saying, quote, the defense council chose to set a tone that has the attendance of ministers at the trial as intimidation and dehumanized a young black man with racist tropes. the jury arrived at its verdict despite these tactics. what does it say that the jury was able to see past all the racist tropes, and dirty checks. and to, do you think it was important that race wasn t really argued before the jury? we ll, starting with the latter, the rate almost did not need to be argued with the jury. that sounds a little bit
show the world that it s 2021 and in glynn county a black man can finally get equal justice under the law. well, kirk, let s talk more about race. the judge pointed out racial bias in jury selection and vice president kamala harris noted the racist troepz used by the defense saying, the defense counsel chose to set a tone that cast the attendance of ministers at the trial as intimidation and dehumanized a young black man with racist tropes. the jury arrived at its verdict despite these tactics. what does it say that the jury was able to see past all the racist tropes and dirty tricks, one? and two, do you think it was important that race wasn t really argued before the jury? well, starting with the latter, the race almost did not need to be argued with the jury. now, that sounds a little ridiculous because jurors can
of 11 white and one black, in the deep south, stood up in the courtroom, and said that black lives do matter. you came in the state of georgia, a state known for segregation, a state known for jim crow, and you turned it around. you took a young unarmed boy, that they thought was worthless, and you put his name in history. kirk burkhalter, criminal law professor at new york law school where is he the 21st century policing project. mark claxton director of the black law enforcement alliance, both the former and ypg detectives. paul butler, law professor at georgetown university and former prosecutor and msnbc legal analyst. gentlemen, welcome all. kirk, i will start with you. what was your reaction to the verdict today? did you expect it based on what