The most bizarre murder case I've seen

[alp227]

On January 25, 2006, Daniel Miller (now 19) and Edward Sample (now 20) attacked Jorge Trujillo with a baseball bat. The two attackers perceived Trujillo as a "scrap", ghetto slang for a Mexican national or Sureno gang member. (Sureno is Spanish for "southerner" in case you didn't know.) Trujillo was really a Guatemalan immigrant and not a gang member. 90 minutes later, a blood-soaked Trujillo encountered police; a resident called police to report car burglaries. Because Trujillo was carrying a garden hoe, was reported by the 911 caller to be possibly carrying a weapon, and would not cooperate with the police, officers tased Trujillo in his right leg, right arm, and back 21 times.

The next day, Trujillo died. Former Santa Clara County medical examiner Dr. Christopher Happy ruled that the 21 Taser shots contributed to Trujillo's death. Now chief medical examiner in Milwaukee, Dr. Happy will not testify in the murder trial of Miller and Sample. Also, "fter hearing pretrial arguments from prosecutors and defense attorneys, Judge Jerome E. Brock banned attorneys and witnesses from referring to the exact number of Taser shocks in the presence of the jury."

Prosecutors blame the death of Trujillo on Miller and Sample and accuse them of bragging about their attack. Community activist Raj Jayadev, who opposes what he terms "excessive force" by police (and has earned the ire of some forum members on the San Jose Mercury News site), said about Trujillo: "The amount of force used by the police against him was excessive and led to his death, and yet they are not charged."

Of all the police brutality cases and Taser abuses I've read about in the news and Jonathan Turley's blog, this is just...really really odd.

Source: Tracey Kaplan, "Trial begins in Taser case". San Jose Mercury News: February 9, 2010

[BrklynLiberal]

1. They should ALL go to jail for contributing to Trujjillo's death

[Nevilledog]

2. Medical Examiner is named Dr. Happy??

totally off topic, but what a name for a coroner

[formercia]

3. A Urologist would be a better specialization.

Dr. Happy treats Mr. Happy.

[LittleDesertFlower]

4. Wait, it gets worse! There's even more involved than this....

The official 'record' says it was actually 4 supposedly present @ the time of attack. 3 of which were supposedly involved in the attack. - 1 of the 4 ended up fingering the other 3.. & UNLIKE the 3 that are now accused - He was not a juvenile, he did have a prior criminal record, he lived in neighborhood where the attack happened, & conveniently he didn't have to face any charges at all in return for his cooperation in turning in the other 3. Huh?! But none of this will be known to very many.
The '2 (alleged) attackers' on trial now were NOT affiliated or in ANY way involved in gang activity. They were just your basic skater punk teens.. From a totally different neighborhood (that has relatively no gang activity).
So there's no motivation for attack based on this reasoning. They wouldn't even have cared if he was or wasn't a 'scrap'.
The attack happened in January 2006. They didn't identify the alleged attackers until Dec. 2006 - After the adult male involved (that I mentioned earlier) fingered them.
The SJPD lost the civil suite already that the victims family filed. The outcome (if they get the cash) is still pending however.. Until this trial is determined. Hmmmmm....
There are literally dozens & dozens of oddities involved beyond this. Procedure thats questionable. Officials in all areas involved that common sense can tell harbor some bias or motivation involved in their decisions. Etc.
Last thing I'll say is that these boys have been incarcerated now for 4 years!! Pending their 'speedy trial'.. Yeah right. Something stinks!