First, Anthony Brown at Hog Heaven is in front of me on the Sean Taylor murder case update. He says maybe Michael Wilbon was right:
Washington Post columnist Michael Wilbon was roundly condemned when he wrote last November "he wasn't surprised" by Sean Taylor's murder. His statement was lumped together with ill-considered ignorant statements by Colin Cowherd and others who implied Taylor died for gangster sins.
Florida authorities released statements by the suspects in the case that seem to confirm Wilbon's original point about the risks of trying to change your life when others around you "might not embrace such a change." You could say that Taylor died as a result of his generosity, rather than of any bad relationships.
I agree wholeheartedly that Sean Taylor died for his generosity; as you'll read below, he paid a kid $300 dollars to mow his lawn -- I never got paid $300 to mow anyone's lawn -- and the kid allegedly reciprocated the favor by participating in a burglary-turned-homicide at Sean Taylor's Florida home.
Prosecuting attorneys released "confessions" by some of the suspects yesterday. I say "confessions" because every source goes out of its way to point out that the statements aren't overt confessions, but that kind of distinction isn't likely to interest a jury. For example:
Rivera, like the other suspects from the Fort Myers area, told detectives there were five people on the trip that night, although only four are charged. All five burned their shirts, gloves and other clothes after returning home following Taylor's shooting, he said, so "nobody can find out who did it."
This is not an "outright confession" we're told from the article. Question: so "nobody can find out who did" what, exactly? Bought their threads from Baby Gap? Wore socks with sandals? Plaid pants? You don't burn your clothes for the hell of it. Igniting them and later admitting you did so to cover up
something is pretty compelling evidence that that something happened to be illicit. Jason Scott Mitchell's not-outright-confession included, emphasis added:
Another suspect, 20-year-old Jason Scott Mitchell, said he thought about coming forward when he found out it was Taylor who had been shot. Mitchell said he was told the day after the shooting by another suspect, Charles Wardlow.
"It's like when I found out who it was, it's like, I mean, I just felt like turning myself in," Mitchell told police. But he did not.
Again, one wonders what it is he would have turned himself in
for exactly, if not participation in the murder of Sean Taylor. Nevermind it's doubtful a jury will appreciate the sentiment. Two issues: 1) I'm not famous, neither are jurors. Until you turn yourself in, they're crocodile tears. And yet you just admitted to a yet named jury that you will only
consider confessing to the murder of a person who is famous. 2) You went to Sean Taylor's house. You participated in a burglary there. Someone was shot, in the bedroom, by a person you were with that night. His face is plastered all over your Myspace pages. And yet you have to be told the next day that the person murdered, at Sean Taylor's house, in Sean Taylor's bedroom, by someone you were with, happened to be Sean Taylor? And that was surprising? Kid, you're either remarkably stupid or you think the rest of us are.
I understand the suspects thought Sean Taylor would be with the team. But if you enter a person's house, shoot the person in it, there's a better than not chance the person shot is the owner of said residence. Even if it weren't, the rest of us will hardly sympathize with you because of your bad luck that Sean Taylor -- as opposed to someone else he let sleep in his home, someone with an equal right not to get shot to death -- happened to be the victim.
More on the history between suspect and victim:
Mitchell's statement also provides new details on a birthday party he attended in September at Taylor's home. Mitchell said he stayed at the house for several days, helping Taylor cut the grass and make other preparations for the party -- tasks for which he was paid $300 in $50 bills by Taylor.
And video for people who don't read good:
