re: A jury decided they were not guilty. A judge sentenced them to life in prison anyway

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they wouldn’t have pleaded guilty if the facts were in their favor.

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Yeah, that's not what that necessarily means at all.

Even if it was, the "facts not being in their favor" doesn't mean they are guilty. It could mean something as simple as them not having an alibi for the time of the murder because they were home alone.

Haven't you ever watched a cop show? "Someone's going down for this one, Jaco, and it might as well be you. You better give us someone else to look at or you're it. That rap sheet you've got isn't going to win you any sympathy with a jury, that's for sure. You want a lawyer? O.k., but once that happens I can't help you any more. I think I can get the DA to agree to 8 years on a plea bargain, but if you take this to trial they're going to put a needle in your arm." Just FYI, they really do that shite.

Look, I don't know whether they killed someone or not. But neither do you just on that information.

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There was absolutely zero evidence that they killed anyone, which is why they were acquitted.

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Besides their state level plea deals. Don’t worry there are other crack dealers for you to blow

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The dudes were selling crack and shot a cop and the jury let them off

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this is pretty much all I need to know…

Sounds fishy to me

This little tidbit is telling:

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One of the first officers to arrive on the scene was Waverly Police Chief Warren Sturrup, who picked up Gibson’s gun with his bare hands and, in doing so, tainted any fingerprints that may have been on the gun.

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Tells me they must have gotten some damning fingerprints but defense is arguing its "tainted". Otherwise why would they offer that explanation in the story????

State appeals court turned them down too.

Some critical pieces are missing from this story.

Yep, we had a SCOTUS then that used "feelings" or felt the US Constitution should "move forward".

What we have now is 5 - 6 "originalist" judges at any given time.

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Now do Derek Chauvin

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And Trump

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All of a sudden the board leftists care about judicial overreach and over-sentencing. Doesn't seem to matter if their political beliefs are right-of-cent

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Ohh the carefree whimsy of leftism. Imagine the joy of nebulously bouncing through life unencumbered by principle or logic.

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They confessed in exchange for lighter sentencing.

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When did they confess to murdering the cop? I haven’t been able to find that information anywhere. This is the first I’m hearing it.

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The confession to state charges

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can you link the confession for me?

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In April 2021, Richardson filed a petition with the court to overturn his 2000 state conviction for involuntary manslaughter in the death of 25-year-old Officer Allen Gibson. A federal judge would later use the conviction to sentence Richardson to life in prison.

In Richardson’s petition, his attorney, Jarrett Adams, presented what he said was new evidence proving his client’s innocence. It includes a handwritten statement from an eyewitness who was nine years old at the time of the initial investigation, a photo lineup from which she at the time identified a man named Leonard Newby as the shooter, as well as a 911 call that names Newby as the assailant. But the appeals court's three-judge panel declined to grant the petition or call an evidentiary hearing, in part, because it asserted that the evidence wasn’t new.

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A state grand jury indicted Richardson and Claiborne for capital murder; Richardson reached an agreement with the commonwealth, pleading guilty in exchange for prosecutors reducing his charge to involuntary manslaughter. Claiborne pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of accessory after the fact. In a March 2000, the court sentenced Richardson to five years in prison. Claiborne served no jail time.

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A year later, a federal grand jury indicted Richardson and Claiborne separately on crack cocaine distribution and gun charges related to Gibson’s death. Both were convicted of the drug offenses, but the jury acquitted them of murder.

Despite the acquittals, the federal judge lengthened Richardson and Claiborne’s sentences to life in prison, deciding their guilty pleas in state court were "clear and convincing evidence" that they "killed [Officer Gibson] under circumstances that would constitute murder."

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LINK

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Tells me they must have gotten some damning fingerprints but defense is arguing its "tainted". Otherwise why would they offer that explanation in the story????

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How the heck did you draw this conclusion from a police officer contaminating evidence? It appears that detail was included to illustrate the incompetence of the police dept.