Letter to the editor: A tale of 2 verdicts

The verdicts of Kyle Rittenhouse and Ahmaud Arbery gave us a glimpse of the best and worst of the U.S. justice system.

Rittenhouse was judged “not guilty” by his peers in his trial for killing two people and severely injured a third with an assault rifle. The judge insisted the prosecutors call the victims, two of whom were unarmed, “rioters,” and did not allow the fact that the gun Rittenhouse used was illegal to be a factor. This verdict was a travesty. In my opinion, Rittenhouse was a kid wanting to play superhero. I believe some jail time, say 10 years, would have been appropriate. As a nation we have to live with that.

Justice was served for Arbery, and in Georgia of all places! The defense team tried every dirty trick in the book to paint the victim as a thief, used racial aspersions and tried to deny the family the comfort of pastors, and still, a primarily white jury found all three of the perpetrators guilty. That this happened in the South is a miracle and, perhaps, a sign that things are changing.

Bias in courtrooms cannot be tolerated. At least in one case, the jurors got it right.

Elizabeth Veronica Weaver

Jeannette