Thursday, September 11, 2014

People v. Johnson (Cal. Ct. App. - Sept. 11, 2014)

When you read the transcripts of defendant Daniel Johnson's recorded phone calls as he's talking to friends -- recounted on pages three through five of this opinion -- you realize two things.  First, he's not very bright, since he's essentially confessing to his crimes on a recorded jailhouse line.  Second, he's got to learn to express himself better.  Because my rough estimate is that, in each of his various conversations, which collectively entail probably a hundred different sentences, Mr. Johnson uses the word "nigger" in literally half of them.

(Here's a classic example, from how he ends his third conversation:  "Yeah, nigger. There’s a camera on (Gerrard), too, my nigger. So let, let everybody know, man. When you niggers is around there. Nigger, I thought I was good. I mean, I got it, I got it all so quick, right? You feel me? I got—I told the bitch to leave so quick that the nigger I was with didn’t even know I kicked the bitch out. You feel me? Smooth, though, nigger…. That mother fuckin’ nigger had a camera right here, Cuz. That’s crazy. Shit, man. You know, I fucked up, my nigger. I—I’m a learn from this.")

It's not an especially attractive quality when every other sentence of our nation's youth includes the word "Like . . .".  It's even less attractive when "nigger" serves as an alternative placeholder.

Hopefully Mr. Johnson will indeed [a] learn from this.