I have friends in Blaine (very well educated, very thoughtful people). They are and have been angry over this case from the beginning. It wasn’t just rape and killing, it was torture and it was brutal.
If the DA doesn’t manage this case well, there will be a lot of people that lose faith in the system. The black men who committed this crime are less than animals and have been given a break by the system over and over again.
Even if convicted and given death, they get another 20 years minimum in appeals. A rope and tree are appropriate in this case.