Police officers are accused of crimes, but do juries judge?
A few days before Christmas, a jury in Washington acquitted three Tacoma police officers of criminal charges in the death of Manuel “Manny” Ellis, a 33-year-old Black man who died in police custody in 2020 after pleading guilty to being unable to breathe. .
The next day, on December 22, a jury in Colorado convicted two paramedics of criminally negligent homicide in the death of Elijah McClain, a 23-year-old Black man who died in police custody in 2019 after officers subdued him and medics injected him. with the powerful calming ketamine.
In the three years since the killing of George Floyd, whose death in police custody sparked a national movement against police brutality, prosecutors have charged police and medical providers in a number of high-profile cases.
The result is a mixed bag of verdicts: convictions, acquittals and, in one case, a mistrial. Civil rights activists and legal experts say the differing outcomes reflect a country still grappling with how to handle cases of police use of deadly force, and with changing public sentiment about law enforcement and safety.
“The responsibility of the police is still under discussion. Even with factual evidence, even with bodycam footage, we are still in a place where we cannot be confident that an officer’s conviction for misconduct will proceed through our judicial system,” Charles Coleman Jr., a civil rights attorney, former Brooklyn district attorney and MSNBC legal analyst, said in an October interview.
The deaths of Mr. Floyd, Mr. McClain, Mr. Ellis and Breonna Taylor — all killed in fatal police encounters within a span of nine months — became central to the movement for racial justice and, in some cases, inspired reform in the politics. cities where they were murdered.
A total of 16 police officers and paramedics faced state and federal charges in the four cases, with eight convictions to date, including a former police detective who pleaded guilty to federal charges in Ms. Taylor’s case.
But convictions are only one part of the justice system, reform activists pointed out.
“The algorithm of justice is charges, arrests, convictions and sentences,” said MiDian Holmes, a community activist in Aurora, Colorado, after the conviction of the paramedics in Mr. McClain’s death. She said she is grateful for the three convictions in the case, but “we don’t know justice until we see the conviction.”
No organization fully tracks the number of law enforcement prosecutions. But legal experts and those pushing for police reform say prosecutors appear more willing to bring charges against police officers, even though juries are not as willing to convict.
“There is at least a situation where police are subject to the same criminal processes as the rest of us,” said Ian Farrell, an associate professor of law at the University of Denver’s Sturm College of Law.
However, jurors are often reluctant to question “the decisions of police officers in potentially violent street encounters,” said Philip Stinson, a criminal justice professor at Bowling Green State University.
Mr. Stinson, whose research includes police misconduct, has built a public database of police officers accused of shootings, compiled from media reports.
From 2020 to 2023, 71 officers were charged with murder or manslaughter as a result of an on-duty shooting, compared to 43 officers from 2016 to 2019. The data is limited to shooting deaths, which means some of the most recent notable police killings, such as since those of Mr. Floyd, Mr. McClain and Mr. Ellis were not included in the count.
The trial of the officers in Mr. Ellis’ case was seen as a test of Washington’s police accountability law, which voters approved in 2018.
During the trial, jurors heard prosecutors describe how officers beat, choked and tied up Mr. Ellis and placed a hood over his head. Defense lawyers said police action was justified because Mr Ellis fought the officers with “extraordinary force”. The Seattle Times reports this. They argued that Mr. Ellis died from methamphetamine in his system and from a pre-existing heart condition. Before the case went to trial, the Ellis family reached a $4 million settlement agreement with Pierce County in 2022.
Mr Stinson’s data also leaves out the case of Tire Nichols, a 29-year-old black man who died in police custody in January 2023. Five former Memphis police officers were accused of beating Mr. Nichols during a police stop and were charged with second assault. murder and assault in state court, plus civil rights violations in federal court. One officer has pleaded guilty to some state and federal charges; the other four have pleaded not guilty.
Jim Pasco, executive director of the National Fraternal Order of Police, the nation’s largest law enforcement organization with more than 373,000 members, said no blanket standard can be applied to cases of deaths in police custody. He said every situation is different and each case must be judged on its own merits.
“There are all kinds of things to take into account when assessing whether or not the use of force is appropriate,” Mr. Pasco said, adding that officers should receive due process just like any other citizen. “They don’t check their civil rights at the station door any more than anyone else should.”
And attorneys and defendants have argued that they did their best to respond to often chaotic situations where they sometimes felt their own lives were in danger.
Following the conviction of two paramedics in Mr. McClain’s death, Chief Alec Oughton of the Aurora Fire Department said he was “disheartened that these paramedics were charged with a criminal offense for following their training and protocols in place at the time and for made discretionary decisions while taking split-second actions in a dynamic environment.”
Social justice activists who monitor the cases say the differing outcomes are a sign that there is still work to be done and a way to understand changing public attitudes toward policing. But the charges are just the first step in a long criminal process.
“You have to be able to prove the case. You have to be able to gather that evidence and tell a story that is compelling to a jury,” said Tracie L. Keesee, co-founder of the Center for Policing Equity, which conducts research and collects data to improve policing.
In the case of Mr. Floyd, who was 46, Derek Chauvin, a former Minneapolis police officer who was captured on video pressing his knee into Mr. Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes, was convicted on charges of murder and manslaughter . Mr. Chauvin was sentenced to 22 and a half years. Three other officers present were found guilty of various state and federal charges.
Two months before Mr. Floyd’s death, Ms. Taylor, 26, was killed in her apartment during a botched robbery in Louisville, Kentucky. No officer has ever been charged with shooting Ms. Taylor, but last year the Justice Department charged four officers. with federal civil rights violations. One police detective pleaded guilty and faces a prison sentence of up to five years.
One officer faced charges of endangering Ms. Taylor’s neighbor, and a jury acquitted him last year. Federal prosecutors hope to retry that same officer after a deadlocked jury led to a mistrial in November.
In Mr McClain’s case, two paramedics and a police officer were convicted, but two police officers were acquitted of all charges, and one of them has returned to the force.
The death of Mr. McClain, who was placed in a neck restraint and given a fatal dose of anesthetic during a police stop in Aurora, provides one of the clearest examples of the impact of national protests and public pressure that led to charges.
Not long after he was killed in 2019, a local prosecutor declined to charge police officers and paramedics. But Colorado’s attorney general later opened an investigation that resulted in a 32-count indictment, including charges of manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide. Two months after the indictment, the city of Aurora agreed to pay Mr. McClain’s parents $15 million to settle a civil rights lawsuit.
Community activists and the victims’ families have also sought accountability in other ways, beyond criminal charges.
After a jury found one of the officers convicted in Mr. McClain’s case not guilty, he returned to his job with the Aurora force but is currently on paid personal leave.
A local NAACP chapter began organizing a response. Members of the civil rights group are demanding a public apology from the officer, Nathan Woodyard, and are applying pressure to prevent him from returning to a role that involves interacting with civilians.
“Mr. Woodyard’s lack of humanity is a major reason why Elijah is not with us,” said Omar Montgomery, president of the Aurora NAACP. “He should not be working with the public.”
Mr. Woodyard’s attorney, Megan Downing, declined to comment on his future with the Aurora Police Department.
Art Acevedo, Aurora’s interim police chief, said he understands many in the community do not want Mr. Woodyard back on the force. But he said there is also a segment of the community that supports his return.
It is unclear whether Mr. Woodyard would return to active duty, Mr. Acevedo said, but if he does, “we are going to consider what is best for the department, for the community and, ultimately, for Officer Woodyard himself. ”
Even in cases of failed criminal convictions, families have been awarded millions and spent some of it on promoting police reforms.
Four years after the 2018 death of 19-year-old Anton Black in police custody in Maryland, his family and a community coalition partially settled a federal civil rights lawsuit that included $5 million in payouts and reform initiatives.
The partial settlement requires the three Maryland law enforcement agencies involved to revise their use-of-force policies and requires implicit bias and de-escalation training. It also includes a requirement for more resources for police officers who encounter people with mental health issues in crisis situations.
“No family should have to go through what we went through,” Jennell Black, Mr. Black’s mother, said in a statement after the settlement. “I hope that reforms within police forces will save lives and prevent any family from feeling the pain we feel every day.”