First Degree murder and just 2 and the half years in prison. It means as a black man you are an animal.
A Portsmouth, Virginia, police Officer Stephen Rankin was convicted of the first-degree murder of 18-year-old, William Chapman while responding to a shoplifting call in April of 2015.
While the prosecutors had asked for a 10-year sentence, the jury gave him only two and one-half years.
The judge was not allowed to increase the sentence,he was only allowed to decrease the sentence.
Rankin was responding to a shoplifting call from a local Wal-Mart when Chapman was shot but we will never know exactly what because former officer Rankin’s audio was not synced with his dashboard video.
For Rankin, this is not his first confirmed kill.
In 2011, Rankin shot and kill 26-year-old Kazakhstani national Kirill Denyakin with 11 bullet wounds in his chest, left shoulder, right upper arm, left thigh, right flank, hip, right wrist, and left hand.
A witness is to have said to testified to that less than two minutes had elapsed between Rankin yelling “Get Down” at Denyakin and firing.
Rankin was obviously placed on administrative leave during the investigation.
On February 9, 2012, the grand jury refused to indict Rankin in the killing of Kirill Denyakin.
Denyakin had a blood alcohol level of 0.28% which is three and a half times the state threshold for driving,Denyakin would not have have been able to walk or talk let alone fight.
Rankin said Denyakin reached into his waistband as if to pull a gun.
Denyakin’s lawyers argued that Denyakin could not have had his hands in his pants as stated because he had bullet wounds on his hands but no holes in his jeans.
While Stephen Rankin being charged with murder is seemingly justice.It is not.
Rankin had already killed someone before under questionable circumstances.Shot Kirill Denyakin in less than two minutes.
But yet he was still allowed to serve because we have been so entranced by worship of police that we always believe that they’re going to do what is right and if Kirill or William was killed then it was the right thing to do.
We have allowed police to militarize and kill at a whim.If we point out facts or opinions to the contrary we are considered “Unpatriotic” and become targeted wether by police or their minions.
This system was never for black people. This has been written on the walls of every street of America. So justice is not where to be ever be found for any black case. So stop waiting for justice to come one day because it will never ever come.