Semaru Acquitted...Sort Of

If you're Canadian and you follow the news than you've probably heard about Captain Robert Semaru and his court case.

He was found guilty today by a military panel of disgraceful conduct but not guilty of second-degree murder in the shooting death of a wounded Afghan insurgent.

The charge of behaving in a disgraceful manner carries a penalty of up to five years in prison. His lawyers are expected to present a Charter of Rights argument over military sentencing procedures.

The decision was handed down today in Gatineau, Que. after three days of deliberations. The court martial of the Canadian Forces captain came after he was charged in a battlefield death in Afghanistan. Apparently there are rules to killing someone during a war.

The 36-year-old Semrau was accused of firing two rounds from his rifle into a dying Taliban fighter in Helmand province of Afghanistan in October 2008.

Semrau never testified, but an Afghan army captain, who was on the patrol with Semrau, testified the Taliban fighter was "98 per cent dead" when he was found.

In addition to the disgraceful conduct charge, Semrau was charged with three other offences, including second-degree murder, which carries a mandatory life sentence with no chance of parole for 10 years, the alternate charge of attempting to commit murder with a firearm and negligent performance of a military duty. He was also found not guilty of the latter two charges.

I for one am glad he was acquitted of most of the charges but I honestly felt this never should have gone to trial to begin with. All is fair in love and war as far as I'm concerned and the Taliban fighter was going to die anyway. If anything, Semrau should have been commended for doing his duty and for putting a suffering enemy out of his misery.

We ask this man and and the thousands of other men and women in uniform to go to war and defend not only the people of Afghanistan who can't fight for themselves but the millions of Canadians back home as well. This is thanks they get.

I have no doubt that Captain Semaru wouldn't have pulled the trigger had the gravely wounded Taliban scumbag not been injured as badly and could have been saved.

Did he follow proper military conduct? Obviously not but from what I've read on the incident he followed the proper humane conduct. It's easy for people to sit in their comfy chairs in front of their big screen televisions and pass judgment after having time to think about things. It's another thing entirely different to make decisions in fractions of a second during a war or battle with an enemy on their own turf.

I'm quite sure that had the roles been reversed the Taliban soldiers would have tormented, tortured and inflicted inhumane pain on a Canadian soldier. Remember, these are the same chicken shit SOB's who sneak around at night planting bombs rather than fighting like men for their cause. How can we possibly give them respect while at the same time disrespecting one of our own?

This man deserves our gratitude for his service to our country, not jail time and I support his actions 100%.

The "Juice" Gets Squeezed

I guess the "real killers" can relax because "The Juice" won't be able to look for them anymore.

It took 13 years to the exact day of his acquittal for the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman, but a jury finally got one right and O.J. Simpson is going to prison.

Simpson was found guilty of all 12 counts in the armed robbery of two sports memorabilia dealers at a Las Vegas, Nevada, casino hotel last year.

The jury of nine men and three women, none of them African-American, began deliberations Friday after hearing from 22 witnesses over 12 days of testimony. Chief among the witnesses were seven of the nine people inside Room 1203 of the Palace Station Hotel and Casino for the September 13, 2007 confrontation. Prosecutors alleged that the men, led by Simpson, burst into the room, flashed a gun and threatened the memorabilia dealers.

The men then filled two pillowcases with Simpson trinkets, signed Pete Rose baseballs and Joe Montana lithographs. Simpson's defense attorneys maintained their client was merely trying to retrieve personal photographs and other mementos that belonged to him.

How much time he'll get has yet to be determined as sentencing is scheduled for December 5th. It likely won't be enough though.

Anyone who followed the murder trial in 1995 and felt Simpson should have been found guilty of that crime will no doubt feel some vindication. Sadly, although he most likely did commit those murders, the complete screw-up by the L.A. Police and the racism of one particular officer must have put enough doubt in the minds of the jurors of that trial that they had to acquit him

I know my jaw drops to the floor every time I watch this video.