Protests over police brutality are prompting prosecutors to re-examine long-dormant cases to see whether heightened attention will lead to a different result. After the killing of George Floyd, protesters sought a new look at cases where people died at the hands of law enforcement. The deaths of Elijah McClain in Aurora, Co., and Breonna Taylor in Louisville have had national publicity, while other cases have had significant local attention. The hurdles for prosecutors are high, the Wall Street Journal reports, with some cases a decade old. Bowling Green State University criminologist Philip Stinson said investigators typically assume deaths at police hands are justified, meaning evidence may have been preserved less carefully. Prosecutors may be loath to admit they made a mistake in not charging officers unless new evidence emerges, such as a video. “It would raise all kinds of questions with prosecutors if they suddenly found probable cause when they didn’t find it before,” Stinson said.
Still, “We’re going to name and shame to keep this in the public’s eye,” said Earl Burton of the nonprofit Michigan Liberation, which successfully pushed for a case to be re-examined. In that six-year-old Oakland County, Mi., case, a mall shop owner said McKenzie Cochran, 25, a Black man, threatened to kill somebody. Security guards asked Cochran to leave, pepper-sprayed him, and pinned him to the ground. He died after cries of “I can’t breathe” were captured on video. Prosecutor Jessica Cooper, who didn’t file charges after a medical examiner called the death accidental, asked Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel to review the case. Washington Gov. Jay Inslee ordered a new probe of a case in which a Black man died after being restrained. Tacoma’s mayor called for four officers to be fired after video showed them punching Manuel Ellis and restraining him with a chokehold.