Family, others react to AG decision not to file charges against cops who killed Alton Sterling
3rd April 2018 · 0 Comments
In a move that some say did not surprise them given the country’s racial climate and rumors of a bid by the state AG to become Louisiana’s next governor, state Attorney General Jeff Landry announced Tuesday, March 27, that he won’t file criminal charges against the two white Baton Rouge Police Department officers involved in the July 5, 2016 death of 37-year-old Alton Sterling.
At a Tuesday morning news conference held after a meeting with members of the Sterling family and their attorneys, Landry, who hails from a family of law enforcement officers, told reporters that after a “thorough and exhaustive review of the facts,” the state Attorney General’s Office “cannot proceed with the prosecution of either Officer (Howie) Lake or Officer (Blane) Salamoni.
“During that encounter, Mr. Sterling continued to resist the officers’ efforts,” Landry continued. “The officers used verbal commands of varying degrees and tried to control Mr. Sterling with several non-lethal techniques.”
Sterling, a father of five, was selling mixtape CDs outside of the Triple S Food Mart in south Baton Rouge when he was approached by BRPD officers Blane Salamoni and Howie Lake II, wrestled to the ground and fatally shot by Salamoni three times in the chest and three times in the back.
The entire ordeal lasted about 90 seconds and was recorded on cellphone by two witnesses who posted the exchange on social media. The shooting incident, along with the officer-involved killing of Philando Castille near Minneapolis, Minn. two days later, spawned a series of nightly nationwide protests.
“I know the Sterling family is hurting,” Landry told reporters. “I know that they may not agree with the decision. I am ever mindful that a mother who prematurely loses a son or a child who loses a rather experiences a pain that no one should have to endure.”
“I’m not crying anymore,” Sandra Sterling, the victim’s aunt who raised him, told reporters. “I will get justice from a higher power.”
Quinyetta McMillon, the mother of Alton Sterling’s son, Cameron, said the family will continue to fight for justice.
“Yes, we did not get justice here today, but we will get justice,” she vowed. “We don’t hate anyone, but we just want justice.”
Cameron Sterling, who sobbed uncontrollably at a news conference in 2016 after his father was killed, did not attend Tuesday’s news conference.
With emotions running high, an unidentified male member of the Sterling family could be heard repeatedly referring to the BRPD as the “Blue Klux Klan” and said several times that the Ku Klux Klan has successfully infiltrated the BRPD and other law enforcement agencies and is responsible for the police killings of unarmed and innocent Black and Brown civilians.
“A lot of us were not surprised,” L. Chris Stewart, an attorney representing the Sterling family, told WAFB News Tuesday.
“It takes courage to have political office, it takes courage to be a prosecutor, it takes courage to fight for justice and we didn’t see that in this situation,” Stewart said. “We were disappointed that he is not seeking justice, we were disappointed that they didn’t even take it to a grand jury, we were disappointed in reading this very biased report.”
As disappointed family members hugged one another, Stewart told reporters that AG Landry’s decision not to file charges against the two officers involved in the incident was politically motivated and said that it’s time to hold him accountable.
“We will hold you accountable,” Stewart said. “The current action should not be to get violent, it should be to get you out of office.”
Attorney Michael Adams, who also represents the family, said Tuesday that a civil lawsuit has been filed.
“These men thought they could be a bully and thought they could take this man’s life, but this is not over,” Adams said.
Prem Burns, a longtime Baton Rouge prosecutor, told The Advocate that in his investigative report AG Landry misstated the threshold for presenting a criminal matter to a c grand jury. Landry said in his report that he could not bring the Sterling case to a grand jury because he lacked “sufficient evidence to warrant a conviction.”
Burns told The Advocate that the state AG appears to have confused that standard with what is required in Louisiana for a grand jury to indict a criminal defendant.
Burns pointed out that many controversial police shootings have been brought to grand juries in recent years and that it is common practice — and well within a prosecutor’s discretion — to bring police shootings to a grand jury.
“He misunderstood the whole process,” Burns told The Advocate. “You want a fair cross section of the community to make a decision in a case like this. This is too controversial of a case and too close a call.”
Landry told The Advocate in a text message Tuesday that he stands by his “decision and report.”
At a joint news conference with Baton Rouge Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome, who had previously called for the officers to be terminated, BRPD Chief Murphy Paul said the department is investigating the officers’ actions during the incident and hopes to wrap up its probe by Friday, March 30.
“The police officers are entitled to due process under the constitution and under the law enforcement bill of rights,” Paul said. “The officers have to be properly notified and have an opportunity to be heard prior to any discipline being administered.”
The Associated Press reported that the officers’ body cameras and a store surveillance camera also recorded the encounter. Those videos haven’t been released, but Baton Rouge Police Chief Murphy Paul said he intends to release both after he concludes the disciplinary process for the two officers, who have remained on paid administrative leave since the July 5, 2016, shooting.
Attorneys representing BRPD Officers Salamoni and Lake said they were not surprised by Landry’s decision but were pleased with it.
“The decision, it’s expected (but) we are relieved that it’s over with,” John McLindon, Salamoni’s attorney, told The Advocate. He added that having two governmental agency investigations reach the same conclusion about the care “speaks volumes.”
“We would have preferred that they happened sooner, but there was a thorough investigation by both departments,” Kyle Kershaw, Lake’s attorney, said Tuesday. “I don’t believe (Lake) did anything wrong; he followed correct police procedures.”
McLindon said Tuesday that he expected his client to be terminated by the Baton Rouge Police Department.
“I believe it’s a foregone conclusion,” McLindon said. “The decision has already been made.”
“Alton Sterling was shot to death by two Baton Rouge police officers who were on top of him as he lay on the ground,” Jane Johnson, interim executive director of ACLU of Louisiana, said in a statement released Tuesday. “He became the 122nd Black person to be killed by U.S. law enforcement in 2016. His death is yet another example of police brutality against people of color and our country’s systemic failure to hold law enforcement accountable for that brutality. Justice will not be served until we end this epidemic of police violence against people of color once and for all.
“Moving forward, we will continue to stand in solidarity with Mr. Sterling’s family and the communities most scarred by police violence. We join those urging Baton Rouge Police Chief Murphy Paul to fire the two officers involved, release all body camera and surveillance footage of the incident, and do everything in his power to end unjustified killings of civilians. Further, law enforcement agencies must respect the First Amendment rights of peaceful protesters and abide by the terms of the MOU they signed in 2016.”
In May of 2017, after a 10-month investigation, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that it would not file federal charges against Baton Rouge police officers Blane Salamoni and Howie Lake II, who were involved in the July 5, 2016 shooting of Alton Sterling, which led to nationwide protests and ultimately the killing of five law enforcement officers in Dallas, Texas and three police officers in Baton Rouge, La.
After the DOJ announcement, East Baton Rouge District Attorney Hillar Moore recused himself from the case because of a tie to one of the accused police officers, which meant the decision about whether state charges would be filed against BRPD officers Salamoni and Lake would be made by Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry.
A number of elected officials and community leaders expressed anger, disbelief and disappointment about Landry’s decision.
State Rep. C. Denise Marcelle, D-Baton Rouge, stood alongside the Sterling family as she sharply criticized the Louisiana Attorney General’s Office.
“Words cannot describe how disappointed I am in Jeff Landry for not doing his job,” she told WAFB News. “We deserve better and we should demand better.”
Other state lawmakers echoed those sentiments.
“I’m disgusted, man,” state Rep. Ted James, D-Baton Rouge, told Kevin Frey. “It’s like the U.S. attorney and Jeff Landry reviewed two totally different cases. I’m looking forward to Jeff Landry releasing the video. Why conceal the truth? Let us see and decide who to believe. I keep hearing the U.S. attorney talk about recklessness and negligence.”
“This lack of judicial action is consistent with an unfortunate pattern of ‘failure to prosecute’ in cases that raise the question of excessive use of deadly force against Black male victims,” the Louisiana Legislative Black Caucus said in a statement…
“It is also critically important that we instill public confidence in our justice system by ensuring that any individual whose deliberate unlawful actions result in injury or loss of life of another are prosecuted under applicable provisions of law.”
Lawyers for the Sterling family have asked the state Attorney General’s Office to release video and audio recordings of the incident on several occasions but Landry to date has refused to do so.
“As we try to make sense of the death of Stephon Clark in Sacramento, we are forced to confront the disappointment in today’s announcement,” U.S. Rep. Cedric Richmond, D-Louisiana, said. “Today’s announcement is the latest sign that we have a lot of work to do in regard to criminal justice and policing reform. As with many cases before Alton, the system has prioritized absolving the perpetrators instead of vigorously seeking fairness for the deceased, their family, and the larger communities in which they live. One thing we know for certain is that Alton Sterling’s life was taken too soon. Alton’s name will be added to a growing list of young Black men and women killed at the hands of law enforcement who were never charged and never had to face a jury of their peers. Every life is precious, regardless of race, status, gender, or zip code. Until our justice system fully recognizes this, the legitimate fears of our young people will continue to stymie true safety and harmony in our communities.”
“The decision of the Louisiana Department of Justice is a reflection of the urgent need to review both state and federal laws governing when and how police should use deadly force,” Kristina Roth, Senior Program Officer at Amnesty International, said in a statement Tuesday. “Neither Louisiana, nor any other U.S. state, complies with international standards that maintain deadly force can only be used when there is an imminent threat to life or serious injury.
“Police officers have a duty to respect and protect the dignity of all human life. This serves as a persistent reminder that we cannot expect accountability until the United States fully complies with international standards on lethal force.”
This article originally published in the April 2, 2018 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
