No Charges will be Filed in Attack on FOX40 News Crew

[The Northerner]

The Sacramento County District Attorney has decided no charges will be filed against people who attacked FOX40’s Rebecca Little and John Lobertini outside an IHOP on February 20th.

According to a press release, the DA’s office said Little and Lobertini had been warned to stay away from the group of mourners at a memorial for shooting victim Chester Jackson, but that they approached anyway with the camera rolling.

That’s when 57-year-old Chester Jackson III, believed to be the father of the victim, pushed Little’s camera away, then a woman pulled Little to the ground. The DA’s office says Jacqueline Jackson, the sister of the victim, kicked Little while she was lying there, and that Chester Jackson threw a punch at Lobertini.

However, Chester Jackson III and Jacqueline Jackson have been cleared. The DA’s office says: “His actions do not rise to the level of a prosecutable case for assault or battery and certainly not attempted robbery.Some may find the actions of Mr. Jackson to be offensive and unacceptable. Others may describe them as measured and restrained in the context of having just lost a loved one to a senseless homicide 13 hours prior to this incident. The District Attorney must evaluate the case in its totality, as would a jury, to determine whether there is a reasonable likelihood that 12 jurors would unanimously convict Mr. Jackson of the above-described charges.”

Read more: http://www.fox40.com/news/headlines/ktxl-no-charges-will-be-filed-in-attack-on-fox40-news-crew-20110425,0,61270.story#tugs_story_display


Although I despise FOX with a passion I will always oppose all violence regardless of who commits it, with the exceptions to self-defense or the defense of others.

Assault is assault and society should not grant passes to anyone who commits it.

As a precaution, I'd suggest next time that anytime a funeral is held that it be held on private property so that FOX and the rest of the infotainment media doesn't harass them or anyone.

[Lasher]

1. The news crew got what they deserved.

They provoked the mourners despite a warning to stay away.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

4. So if the mourners had gotten maced for the assault you would be good with that too?

[Name removed]

6. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Abq_Sarah]

7. Since when is attacking the media

Regardless of their ideological positions a "remotely liberal stance"?

[ThatPoetGuy]

10. A group of Black people gathered to mourn a young man who was murdered

thirteen hours earlier, on the same site. A news team decided to record the group of mourners. The news team were asked to stop recording the event. They refused. The young man's father pushed a camera, without damaging it. The news crew had the grieving father arrested, and they tried to get him sentenced to prison.

FOX News was there to find a way to stir up hostility against Black people, and they succeeded. But even if they hadn't been, even if it had been PBS, it would have been insane and indecent to try to get a grieving father sent to prison for pushing a camera without damaging it when the crew had been asked to leave.

Unless you think a liberal position is to punish bereaved people who've done no harm, there's no way a liberal would support prosecuting this man.

[Lasher]

15. I was raised to show respect to the family of the deceased during their time of grief.

If I'm working in my garden beside the road when a funeral procession goes by, I stop working until it passes. If I'm wearing a hat I remove it. Most of my neighbors do the same.

The news crew callously tormented this suffering family. They deserved to get their asses kicked.

[ThatPoetGuy]

16. They didn't get their asses kicked, though. They got pushed around.

Which is what they deserved.

They got to keep their jobs, which they didn't deserve.

They'll probably get promoted at Fox for creating a racial incident.

[LanternWaste]

12. I don't think that progressive, regressive, or any other political affiliation ...

I don't think that a progressive, regressive, or any other political affiliation would be germaine to an individual who had lost a dear one less than a full day prior to an emotional and visceral reaction consciously baited by the media in question.

[ThatPoetGuy]

13. Damn straight. -nt

[DainBramaged]

8. You will never find clarity from these pretenders

[Avant Guardian]

9. Does this mean he is a 'centrist?'

n/t

[LanternWaste]

11. How does one go from equating tolerance...

How does one go from equating tolerance for the actions specific to the OP (implicitly referenced by post #1) to an assault using mace?

I would think the degrees of difference between the two would, in and of themselves, rule out stronger and more violent actions unless specifically stated.





"I swatted the dog with rolled up newspaper in response to the dog acting up..."

"So if you had shot the dog with a harpoon gun you would be good with that too?"

Six of one, half a dozen of the other... :shrug:

[Lasher]

14. Good question and there's even a label for this logical fallacy.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

17. The big question is how far can violence against the media go and still be acceptable?

Photographers are already gone after by law enforcement asserting non-existent rights. See PINAC for some very scary examples (www.carlosmiller.com). Here we have another case of the media (admittedly behaving very badly) clearly being assaulted. Different than cops, but still media. What if it was Rachel Maddow, Micheal Moore or other progressive media person was attacked, not a Faux News crew? What are the acceptable limits? What if the media people fight back with mace, pepper spray, or even firearms? The big picture concern is if we find physical violence against the media tolerable in some cases, where are the limits and who gets to set them.

All that said, I agree with the DA, the likelihood of a conviction in this case was nonexistent. BTW, the term for that is jury nullification.

For those who say "It was Faux, so it is okay in this instance, consider the precedent you are setting. If it is OK to beat up Fox personnel, what stops it from being OK to beat up Rachel?

[WillParkinson]

2. Yes, because they'll care that it's on private property...

I do not agree with violence but understand it when grief is involved. I don't condone it at all, but do understand how some might be driven to it if they're being harassed at a time like this.

Also it says that they had been warned to stay away. They opted to disregard that and, as such, took their own safety into their hands.

[KansDem]

3. "I'd suggest next time that anytime a funeral is held...

...that it be held on private property so that FOX and the rest of the infotainment media doesn't harass them or anyone."

Or maybe one should observe civility and courtesy and not harass the mourners at a funeral, especially if they are requested to leave the mourners alone. Ya' think?

Oh, wait..."civility and courtesy" Do we still use these quaint notions in this day and age?

[Buzz Clik]

5. More cannon fodder for the Faux talking heads.

[Very_Boring_Name]

18. Local fox affiliates are completely different from "fox news"