The Lumberjack



Students Serving The Cal Poly Humboldt Campus and Community Since 1929

Tag: injustices

  • Grand Juror breaks silence

    Grand Juror breaks silence

    Member of the criminal grand jury assembled David Josiah Lawson case says ‘we have failed’

    A criminal grand juror broke silence on their experience during the proceedings that lead to a non-indictment decision in the fatal stabbing of David Josiah Lawson.

    Aired live on local television, North Coast News reporter Nazy Javid sat down with the anonymous juror that said the process was a “gross failure” and injustice was done. The juror’s voice was altered and body completely hidden.

    “In the instructions that the deputy district attorney gave us, we could not choose to indict if we decided that it was self-defense,” the juror said.

    The anonymous juror said all but one of the 18 jurors were white and 15 of the 18 voted Kyle Zoellner committed the stabbing of David Josiah Lawson.

    The juror felt the deliberation process was unstructured and a lot of the jurors thought they had to prove a charge but, “we were not tasked with proving guilt or innocence, only probable cause.” During a trial vote several voted for manslaughter and “four or five voted for murder,” the juror said.

    “Because someone that we, that the jury all agreed committed the stabbing, is free to walk in our community,” the juror said when asked why they felt an injustice was done.

    Jury selection started February 28 and the proceedings ended March 13. The juror said deliberation lasted about six hours, which wasn’t long enough. One juror in particular, the foreperson pro-tem, insisted that the stabbing was of self-defense and was the one who signed the documents for “no-indictment.”

    When asked if there was DNA evidence on the knife, the juror said experts worded it backwards saying “there was one in so many quintillion or septillion chance that the DNA was from someone other than Mr. Zoellner.”

    “We have failed,” the juror said.

    When North Coast News asked Humboldt County District Attorney Maggie Fleming why the case was presented by the deputy district attorney and not herself, Fleming said the DA’s office has several deputy district attorneys with the capability to effectively handle any case and all the roles of a prosecutor, including presentation of information to a grand jury. Fleming said she formally requested the Attorney General take over the case.

    “It will be up to that office to decide what further action will be taken,” Fleming said.

    The Lumberjack has been following this story. Please stay tune for more in depth updates.

  • Unite and strengthen

    Unite and strengthen

    Nazi’s are bad. After recent events in Charlottesville this is something that needs to be reiterated. This isn’t a political attack against the right, this is a statement of fact supported by history. There was an entire war to resist Germany’s Nazi movement. According to the National World War II Museum in New Orleans 416,000 American soldiers died. These Americans did not give their lives to see these same hateful ideals impregnate the American consciousness.

    The very ideals of Nazism and white supremacy go against everything laid out by our forefathers. The Declaration of Independence states that, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” All men and women are created equal, and while the United States has a less than glamorous record of living up to these “unalienable rights,” one thing we will not do is revert to times where less people were in full control of their rights. We have seen great progress in this country and while there is still more work to be done, we will resist any effort to regress.

    This country is at its best when we stand united as 40,000 counter-protesters did in Boston. A sea of people of mixed races, genders, wealth and ideals, stood against an intolerant and radicalized faction of society. The current political climate has created a nation devoid of unity, yet hope flickers when communities come together and put aside their differences to stand arm-in-arm united. You don’t have to love thy neighbor, but you should get to know them. When we are able to create an understanding and connected community we can fight against injustices as a single, powerful voice. We saw this type of organizing at local and national women’s marches in February. There are things you can do every day at Humboldt State and in the surrounding community. Let your voice be heard at local city council meetings. Enter into discussions with your fellow students and community members. Join clubs. Create a better and more united atmosphere within the our community. If we can unite the campus so that we have all the diverse groups on campus standing together, we can become a more positive force for change.