Excess

Cops Acquitted in Homeless Murder

Victim was schizophrenic.

Manuel Ramos and Jay Cicinelli, two former California police officers, were found not guilty of all charges for allegedly beating homeless schizophrenic Kelly Thomas to death more than two years ago. It was the first case in the country in which officers were charged with murder for actions taken on duty. A video showed Kelly being beaten by the officers and struck in the face with a Taser at least twice as he cried out for help. Ron Thomas, Kelly’s father, who is a former officer, said “I’ve never seen something so bad happen to a human being, and have it done by on-duty police officers. And they can walk away scot-free.” The defense said the officers were merely doing their job, and were authorized to use deadly force in the line of duty.