The most-read post today is "SAO Barquin Shooting Close Out Memo..." June 25, 2009 http://publicoccurrenc.blogspot.com/2009/06/sao-barquin-shooting-close-out-memo.html?m=0
I was interviewed three times by television stations, one in Colombia, right around the time of the Michael Brown Grand Jury announcement. There had also been another police shooting in Miami, Florida, I had not heard of it before the reporters told me about it, and the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office closed out their investigation without filing charges. I was told that no Miami area officer had been charged in a police-involved shooting since 1989. "Does that surprise you?" I was asked. It really did. That was an astounding statistic but I should not have been surprised. Miami prosecutors just will not file those cases. I was the lead prosecutor assigned to the 2004 Leonardo Barquin police shooting. I was removed from that and all future police shooting investigations because four days after the shooting I could not opine to the lead detective that it was a "clean shoot"...No, I am serious...Yes, I know it sounds ludicrous, I thought it was ludicrous at the time. It was outrageous. It is outrageous that they have gotten away with not charging any officer since 1989. But they have. Anyway, the Walter Scott police shooting is the reason for the popularity today of the Barquin police shooting post.
Officer Michael T. Slager of the North Charleston, South Carolina, Police Department has been arrested for murder in the shooting of Walter Scott. He has been fired. A citizen captured the shooting of Mr. Scott on video on his cell phone. You will read today, "This is why we need police body cams!," yes. And, "This officer would not have been arrested but for the video." Yes, demonstrably so, Slager was not arrested until the citizen's video was turned over to investigators. But...You knew there was going to be a "but" there...But remember, Eric Garner's police choke hold death was captured on video and a grand jury refused to indict. "Yes but yourself THIS video shows Slager shooting at Scott eight times! Shooting him in the back as Scott is running away unarmed!" Yes, it does. And a video showed an unarmed, defenseless Rodney King being beaten by several police officers, didn't it? State prosecutors filed that case and LOST. As a defense attorney I have won a case where a video clearly showed my client beating a man with a cane who my client had just knocked unconscious with a punch.
The point is, whatever the evidence, you need independent investigating police officers and independent prosecutors to evaluate it. Do we have that in North Charleston, South Carolina? Looks like it doesn't it? They arrested Officer Slager.
Consider this: what evidence does the video add to what investigators already knew? They would have known from an examination of Slager's service weapon how many shots he fired. They would have known from the autopsy how many times Scott was hit. They would have known that those shots were to Scott's back. They would have known Scott was unarmed. They would have known from an examination of Scott's clothing that none of the shots were close range. All the things the video shows! That non-video evidence should have resulted in Slager's arrest. It didn't!
You gotta have police investigators and prosecutors willing to bring charges. The prosecutors in my case, in the Rodney King case, were not wrong to bring the charges that they failed to convict on, they were right! The point is prosecutors will still lose cases with videotape, police body cameras will not guarantee convictions, they may not even guarantee arrests. You have to have intellectually honest, politically-uninfluenced prosecutors to ensure, at least, that the officer will be arrested. You don't have that everywhere in America. You did not have that in Staten Island, New York, it does not look to me that you had that in North Charleston, South Carolina, and you do not have that in Miami, Florida.
This is Public Occurrences.
I was interviewed three times by television stations, one in Colombia, right around the time of the Michael Brown Grand Jury announcement. There had also been another police shooting in Miami, Florida, I had not heard of it before the reporters told me about it, and the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office closed out their investigation without filing charges. I was told that no Miami area officer had been charged in a police-involved shooting since 1989. "Does that surprise you?" I was asked. It really did. That was an astounding statistic but I should not have been surprised. Miami prosecutors just will not file those cases. I was the lead prosecutor assigned to the 2004 Leonardo Barquin police shooting. I was removed from that and all future police shooting investigations because four days after the shooting I could not opine to the lead detective that it was a "clean shoot"...No, I am serious...Yes, I know it sounds ludicrous, I thought it was ludicrous at the time. It was outrageous. It is outrageous that they have gotten away with not charging any officer since 1989. But they have. Anyway, the Walter Scott police shooting is the reason for the popularity today of the Barquin police shooting post.
Officer Michael T. Slager of the North Charleston, South Carolina, Police Department has been arrested for murder in the shooting of Walter Scott. He has been fired. A citizen captured the shooting of Mr. Scott on video on his cell phone. You will read today, "This is why we need police body cams!," yes. And, "This officer would not have been arrested but for the video." Yes, demonstrably so, Slager was not arrested until the citizen's video was turned over to investigators. But...You knew there was going to be a "but" there...But remember, Eric Garner's police choke hold death was captured on video and a grand jury refused to indict. "Yes but yourself THIS video shows Slager shooting at Scott eight times! Shooting him in the back as Scott is running away unarmed!" Yes, it does. And a video showed an unarmed, defenseless Rodney King being beaten by several police officers, didn't it? State prosecutors filed that case and LOST. As a defense attorney I have won a case where a video clearly showed my client beating a man with a cane who my client had just knocked unconscious with a punch.
The point is, whatever the evidence, you need independent investigating police officers and independent prosecutors to evaluate it. Do we have that in North Charleston, South Carolina? Looks like it doesn't it? They arrested Officer Slager.
Consider this: what evidence does the video add to what investigators already knew? They would have known from an examination of Slager's service weapon how many shots he fired. They would have known from the autopsy how many times Scott was hit. They would have known that those shots were to Scott's back. They would have known Scott was unarmed. They would have known from an examination of Scott's clothing that none of the shots were close range. All the things the video shows! That non-video evidence should have resulted in Slager's arrest. It didn't!
You gotta have police investigators and prosecutors willing to bring charges. The prosecutors in my case, in the Rodney King case, were not wrong to bring the charges that they failed to convict on, they were right! The point is prosecutors will still lose cases with videotape, police body cameras will not guarantee convictions, they may not even guarantee arrests. You have to have intellectually honest, politically-uninfluenced prosecutors to ensure, at least, that the officer will be arrested. You don't have that everywhere in America. You did not have that in Staten Island, New York, it does not look to me that you had that in North Charleston, South Carolina, and you do not have that in Miami, Florida.
This is Public Occurrences.
