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Defense attorneys for 2 former Aurora officers standing trial for involvement in 2019 death of Elijah McClain rest their cases without calling any witnesses

attorneylegalcounsel99 — Sun, 08 Oct 2023 02:54:06 +0000

CNN
—

Defense attorneys for two police officers in Aurora, Colorado, facing charges in the death of Elijah McClain during a 2019 arrest opted to rest their case in court Friday without calling any witnesses.

Randy Roedema and Jason Rosenblatt have pleaded not guilty to charges of reckless manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and assault causing serious bodily injury in connection with the 23-year-old’s death. Rosenblatt was fired by the Aurora Police Department in 2020 and Roedema remains suspended.

The case stems back to August 24, 2019, when officers responded to a call about a “suspicious person” wearing a ski mask, according to an indictment. The officers confronted McClain, a massage therapist, musician and animal lover, who was walking home from a convenience store carrying a plastic bag with iced tea.

In a disturbing interaction captured on body-camera footage, police wrestled McClain to the ground and placed him in a carotid hold, and paramedics later injected him with the powerful sedative ketamine. He suffered a heart attack on the way to the hospital and was pronounced dead three days later.

In 2021, a grand jury indicted three police officers and two paramedics – Jeremy Cooper and Peter Cichuniec – involved in the McClain case. They face 32 counts in total, including reckless manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and assault. All five have pleaded not guilty.

They will be tried in three separate cases, with the trial of the third officer, Nathan Woodyard, scheduled to begin on Monday. Closing arguments in the trial for Roedema and Rosenblatt are scheduled for Tuesday morning. The paramedics will face a joint trial over their involvement in November.

Prosecutors in the wrongful death trial rested their case Friday morning after more than two weeks of testimony, setting the stage for the defense to begin its case, which was expected to continue for up to a week.

Roedema’s attorney had previously indicated he planned to call a police use of force expert as his witness, but both defense teams decided to close their cases Friday afternoon after Judge Mark Warner denied their motion to acquit both men. Roedema and Rosenblatt declined to testify on their own behalf, and neither defense team called a witness.

The trial for the two former officers began on September 20. Prosecutor Jonathan Bunge said in his opening statements, “You will hear no evidence in this case, none, that Elijah McClain did something criminal that night (or) that he was about to engage in criminal activity. He was just walking home.”

Bunge took jurors through the night of McClain’s interaction with police, narrating video footage from that night. He said three officers were dispatched after a 911 call from a 17-year-old boy who saw McClain walking home from a convenience store and thought it was strange he was wearing a coat and a nylon runner’s mask – something McClain did often because he was frequently cold and liked running, according to Bunge.

The prosecution alleged that during their interaction, Roedema, Rosenblatt and the third officer used excessive force without any proof McClain committed any criminal acts – despite his repeated attempts to tell them who he was – and administered two carotid control holds to subdue him.

When the two paramedics arrived, the officers failed to tell them McClain’s vital signs had not been checked and he had complained multiple times he couldn’t breathe. Instead, they told paramedics he continued to resist and had “crazy strength,” Bunge said.

The paramedics diagnosed McClain with “excited delirium,” a controversial diagnosis that describes violent agitation, and administered ketamine, CNN has reported.

They injected McClain with a dose based on an estimate that he was 200 pounds; he in fact weighed 143 pounds, according to the indictment.

Defense attorneys for both officers offered a different narrative of the encounter in their opening statements, focusing on the physical resistance the officers said they experienced from McClain.

Roedema’s attorney, Reid Elkus, alleged McClain resisted the officers and Roedema saw McClain attempt to grab one of the officers’ guns, prompting them to put him on the ground. The prosecution has disputed that McClain reached for a gun, and has said there is no evidence he did so.

The carotid hold, Elkus said, was the only time the officers were able to get McClain to stop resisting. After he was handcuffed, McClain remained responsive, the attorney said.

Defense attorney Harvey Steinberg, who represents Rosenblatt, told jurors Rosenblatt briefly attempted a carotid hold after he heard his colleague say McClain was reaching for a gun as they struggled with him.

McClain’s autopsy report was updated in September 2022 in response to new evidence from a grand jury investigation. His cause of death was changed from “undetermined” to “complications of ketamine administration following forcible restraint,” Adams County Chief Coroner Monica Broncucia-Jordan wrote in the amended report.

Pathologist Dr. Stephen Cina, who was assisted in the autopsy, said they could not determine whether the carotid hold contributed to McClain’s death.

In 2021, the city settled a civil rights lawsuit with the McClain family for $15 million, and both Aurora police and fire departments agreed to a consent decree to address a pattern of racial bias found by a state investigation.

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A man is convicted of attempted murder in shooting of 2 Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies in 2020

attorneylegalcounsel99 — Fri, 29 Sep 2023 12:28:05 +0000

CNN
—

A jury on Thursday convicted a man on charges relating to a series of crimes, including attempted murder in the shooting of two Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies outside a transit station in September 2020, prosecutors said.

Deonte Murray, 39, was found guilty on 10 charges, including three counts of attempted murder, carjacking, robbery, assault with a semi-automatic firearm and illegal possession of firearms, the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office said Thursday.

Murray shot two sheriff’s deputies while they were sitting in their car outside a Metro station in Compton, California, on September 12, 2020, authorities said. He was arrested three days after the shooting triggered a massive manhunt as the officers underwent surgery and recovery.

Days before the officers’ shooting, Murray carried out other crimes, authorities said. In Compton on September 1, 2020, he shot the owner of a Mercedes-Benz in the leg with a high-powered rifle before stealing the car, prosecutors said.

Police initially identified Murray as a suspect in the carjacking and arrested him September 15, 2020, authorities said. As police pursued him that day, Murray tossed a firearm from his car, and the weapon was later found to be the same gun used to shoot the deputies, Los Angeles County sheriff’s Capt. Kent Wegener said at the time. The firearm was a ghost gun, Wegener said, using a term for a weapon that is typically challenging to trace because it’s made from assembled parts.

Police identified him as a suspect in the deputies’ shooting after his arrest in the carjacking, authorities said.

The deputies’ shooting was caught on surveillance video, which showed a gunman walking up to the passenger door of their squad car parked outside the Martin Luther King Jr. Transit Center and opening fire and running away.

Murray faces a life sentence in prison, the district attorney said in a news release Thursday. Murray’s attorney declined to comment on the conviction.

“This verdict reaffirms our commitment to protecting those who serve and sends a clear message that acts of violence will not go unpunished,” Los Angeles County District attorney George Gascon said.

The post A man is convicted of attempted murder in shooting of 2 Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies in 2020 appeared first on Attorney Legal Counsel.

Newport News, Virginia, school shooting: Families of 2 students in Virginia school where 6-year-old student shot his teacher notify district of potential legal action, attorneys say

attorneylegalcounsel99 — Fri, 10 Feb 2023 06:09:52 +0000

CNN
—

The families of two students who attend a Virginia school where a 6-year-old student shot and wounded his first-grade teacher last month have filed notices of potential legal action against the school district.

The parents of a first-grader at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News, Virginia, say their daughter suffered from emotional harm after being present in class when her classmate shot his teacher on January 6, according to a legal notice filed by attorney Cheri Belkowitz.

The letter, dated January 30 and sent to former Superintendent Dr. George Parker, also claims that the daughter was “subjected to numerous incidents of bullying, harassment, assault and battery” during the school year. However, administrators “did not take reasonable and appropriate actions to protect” the student, despite being made aware of these issues.

The family of another student alleges their child suffered injuries on the day of the shooting, according to a letter sent by the parents’ attorney, Emily Mapp Brannon, to the city of Newport News. The January 30 letter does not include details on the injuries mentioned. At the time of the shooting, police said no one else was physically injured aside from the teacher.

The school district would not comment in response to the letters. CNN reached out to both attorneys for the families but did not immediately hear back.

The families’ intent to potentially pursue legal action against the district is the latest blow to officials following intense criticism from frustrated parents over the way the situation was handled by administrators.

After the shooting, the superintendent was ousted by a vote from the school board, the school’s assistant principal resigned, the former principal was reassigned to another location, but the district did not say where. The school also implemented additional security measures including metal detectors and clear backpacks.

Further, the letters were filed roughly a week after the teacher’s attorney notified the Newport News School Board of intent to file a lawsuit over administrators’ alleged failure to act when they were allegedly made aware of reports about a gun being on school premises.

Teacher Abigail Zwerner was shot around 2 p.m. on January 6 inside a classroom, roughly 90 minutes after former assistant principal Dr. Ebony Parker was allegedly informed reports of the gun, according the legal notice filed by attorney Diane Toscano, the teacher’s attorney

Toscano’s legal notice also detailed allegations of disturbing behavior displayed by the 6-year-old child prior to the shooting.

Two days before the shooting, the student allegedly “slammed” and broke Zwerner’s cell phone and cursed at guidance counselors, after which he was suspended, according to the document. After the one-day suspension, he returned to Zwerner’s classroom and shot her.

On the day of the shooting, another teacher overheard Zwerner say the 6-year-old student was in a “violent mood,” had threatened to beat up a kindergartner at the school and “angrily stared down the security officer,” according to the legal notice.

After the shooting, the 6-year-old was placed under a temporary detention order and was evaluated at a local hospital. His family has previously said he has a disability he was receiving treatment for at the school.

The post Newport News, Virginia, school shooting: Families of 2 students in Virginia school where 6-year-old student shot his teacher notify district of potential legal action, attorneys say appeared first on Attorney Legal Counsel.

Double-amputee with a knife shot and killed by police; family claims excessive force used

attorneylegalcounsel99 — Wed, 01 Feb 2023 15:52:31 +0000

CNN
—

Videos purportedly capturing the moments before the shooting death of a double-amputee man holding a knife after a stabbing attack are raising questions about whether police used excessive force in the Southern California city of Huntington Park.

On Thursday afternoon, Huntington Park Police Department officers responded to a report of a stabbing, the department said in a statement Monday. Responding officers found a victim suffering from “a life-threatening stab wound resulting in a collapsed lung and internal bleeding,” the statement said.

The victim described the attacker as a Black man in a wheelchair who “dismounted the wheelchair, ran to the victim without provocation, and stabbed him in the side of the chest with a 12” butcher knife” and then fled the scene in his wheelchair, HPPD said.

The victim was taken to a local hospital and remains in critical condition, according to HPPD.

During their search, police found the alleged suspect a few blocks away holding a 12-inch butcher knife, HPPD said. The suspect allegedly ignored officer commands and threatened to “advance or throw the knife,” and officers used two separate Tasers to try and subdue the suspect but failed, HPPD said.

“The suspect continued to threaten officers with the butcher knife, resulting in an officer-involved shooting,” HPPD said. It was not immediately clear how many officers were present or shot the suspect.

The suspect was struck by gunfire in the upper torso and was pronounced dead on scene, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said in an initial statement.

The involved officers were placed on paid administrative leave pending ongoing investigations from HPPD, the sheriff’s department’s Homicide Bureau and the Los Angeles County District attorney’s Office, HPPD said.

The sheriff’s department confirmed it is investigating but declined to comment.

While authorities did not name the man who died, family members identified him as 36-year-old Anthony Lowe during a news conference held by a community organizer.

Bystander videos of the incident posted on social media appear to show the confrontation between police and Lowe on Thursday just before the shooting. A family member of Lowe confirmed to CNN the man in the video is Lowe.

In one video, two uniformed officers are seen pointing their guns at Lowe. Lowe then appears to move himself in the opposite direction, holding something shiny in his hands, while an officer walks behind him. A police car then obscures the view. Another video from a different view shows the moment when officers appear to open fire.

“The way they killed my son, they murdered my son in a wheelchair with no legs,” Dorothy Lowe, Anthony Lowe’s mother, said at a news conference Monday. “So they do need to do something about it, because I do I want justice for my son.”

Family members did not address the suggestion that Lowe may have stabbed someone prior to the shooting.

The family and community members are calling on Los Angeles County District attorney George Gascón to charge the involved officers.

“There can be no justification for killing Anthony, and we’re here to stand with his family and his community to fight for justice for Anthony,” said Cliff Smith, an organizer with the Coalition for Community Control Over the Police.

Lowe was a loving, caring father who loved to dance and was quite funny, Ebonique Simon, mother to one of Lowe’s children, told CNN. He had been “dealing with a lot of depression” over the loss of his legs in an incident around a year ago, she said.

The family is heartbroken over the loss and cannot make sense of the story the police are telling, she told CNN.

The family is eagerly awaiting autopsy results as the coroner’s investigator assured them that “Anthony’s body will tell the story,” she said.

The Los Angeles County District attorney’s office will conduct an independent review after the sheriff’s department completes its investigation, but Communications Director Tiffiny Blacknell told CNN in a statement that it is inappropriate to comment until the case is formally presented.

“We know that the Black community in Los Angeles is reeling and searching for answers. We know nothing can heal the trauma the community is experiencing right now,” she said, adding that “Los Angeles County deserves to know how and why these incidents have occurred.”

The California attorney General’s office, which is required under state law to independently review officer-involved shootings in the state, told CNN that it is not investigating the matter “at this point in time.”

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Dispute over $100 repair bill may have played a role in Half Moon Bay shootings that left 7 dead, district attorney says

attorneylegalcounsel99 — Mon, 30 Jan 2023 16:26:18 +0000

CNN
—

A dispute over a $100 repair bill may have contributed to a pair of shootings that left seven people dead and another injured last week in Half Moon Bay, California, the San Mateo County district attorney told a local news station.

Chunli Zhao – the farmworker who faces seven counts of murder and one count of attempted murder in connection to the attack – “had a dispute with the first victim regarding a $100 bill” for the cost of repairing a piece of farm equipment involved in an accident at California Terra Garden, the mushroom farm where Zhao worked, lived and allegedly killed his first four victims, Steve Wagstaffe told station KTVU.

“We feel none of the conduct is justified,” Wagstaffe said. “But we’ve got a lot to learn.”

Wagstaffe’s comments came soon after Zhao, 66, reportedly admitted in an interview with NBC Bay Area News to carrying out the shootings, which stunned the coastal city of Half Moon Bay amid a spate of mass shootings in California that claimed 19 lives over about 44 hours.

CNN has not been able to confirm independently what Zhao said in the interview and has reached out to his attorneys for comment.

Statements the suspect made to law enforcement “were consistent with what he told the reporters,” Wagstaffe told CNN on Monday, referring to the NBC Bay Area News interview.

“But I am not declaring it a fact that (the $100 bill dispute) sparked the shooting,” he said. “Much more investigation to do. But it is certainly what Zhao is saying.”

Last Monday, officers responded to the mushroom farm to find four people dead and one wounded, before finding three more dead at a separate site about 2 miles away, officials have said.

Zhao, a Chinese citizen, was a “coworker or former coworker” of the victims, and he allegedly targeted specific people, San Mateo County Sheriff Christina Corpus told CNN, characterizing the attack as a “workplace violence incident.”

In a 15-minute interview conducted in Mandarin, Zhao told NBC Bay Area’s Janelle Wang he wasn’t in his right mind and didn’t know “what was happening mentally” when the shootings occurred, Wang said. The suspect expressed remorse and said he regrets the attacks, telling the reporter he believes he has some type of mental illness that he has struggled with for a while.

In a statement last week, a spokesman for California Terra Garden said all employees “had background checks, and there was nothing to indicate anything like this was even a possibility,” adding the company knew nothing of Zhao’s motive.

The shooting claimed the lives of Yetao Bing, 43; Qizhong Cheng, 66; Marciano Martinez Jimenez, 50; Aixiang Zhang, 74; Jingzhi Lu, 64; and Zhishen Liu, 73; per the San Mateo County Coroner’s Office. The seventh victim was tentatively identified, but the office withheld the name pending positive identification and the notification of the next of kin.

Among the dead were five Chinese citizens, according to China’s consulate in San Francisco.

Zhao’s arraignment is scheduled for February 16, when he is expected to enter a plea.

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