*BALTIMORE — The nation’s foremost civil rights organization joins its NAACP Sacramento Branch in condemning Sacramento District Attorney Marie Schubert’s decision to not charge Sacramento Police officers Terrence Mercadel and Jared Robinet with murder for the killing of 22 year old Stephon Clark –an unarmed father and husband.
“The decision to view the shooting of an unarmed man 20 times, with half of those shots in the back as a legal action is inhumane and sickening. We refuse to allow law enforcement to continue to fear as a justification for police brutality. We refuse internal policies which make execution of people of color as routine and acceptable collateral damage. The decision by the D.A.’s office to refuse to value the lives of Black people is a sham and shame on Sacramento and our nation. We join advocates and our Sacramento Branch in calling on the California Attorney General Xavier Becerra to file charges against both officers.” — Derrick Johnson, NAACP President and CEO
Also, there’s this …
Civil Rights Leaders Call on California Attorney General Xavier Becerra to Appoint a Special Prosecutor in Slaying of Stephon Clark
Los Angeles Urban Policy Roundtable President Earl Ofari Hutchinson and a coalition of civil rights leaders on Tuesday, March 5, called on California Attorney General Xavier Becerra to appoint a Special Prosecutor to bring charges against the Sacramento Police Officers who killed Stephon Clark. The local leaders urge the AG to act based on the decision by Sacramento County DA Marie Schubert to refuse to bring charges against the officers.
“Attorney generals and governors in New York, Florida, Wisconsin, and Ohio have appointed independent prosecutors, special investigators and independent panels in police slayings of unarmed civilians when local DAs have refused to prosecute,” says Hutchinson, “California’s Attorney General has that authority. And there is precedent for that in California. Becerra has placed the San Francisco Police Dept. under Attorney General monitoring in response to the gross violence and abuses by that department.”
The appointment of a special prosecutor by Becerra will send the strong message that police officers who wantonly overuse deadly force will be held accountable. And that local DAs such as Schubert who abrogate their responsibility to prosecute abusive officers will have authority removed from that in blatant cases of abuse such as the Clark slaying.
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