Prosecutor #Klobuchar failed to file charges against the cop who killed 15-year-old #CourtneyWilliams in 2004. #SayHisName #BlackLivesMatter news.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/2004/…
On 11/23/04, #CourtneyWilliams's mother wrote to #Klobuchar, begging her to prosecute the cop who killed her 15-year-old child. Klobuchar failed to prosecute any of 29 police killings. features.apmreports.org/documents/?doc…
To #Klobuchar from Tahisha Williams Brewer: "I am the mother of #CourtneyWilliams, who was shot by #Minneapolis Police." A homicide detective told Brewer the case would go to a grand jury. She asked, "Why does it *have* to be sent to a grand jury?"
"If a black man was accused of shooting a police officer, would you send that to a grand jury?" she asked #Klobuchar. "As far as I am concerned, the grand jury is a way of hiding that the prosecutor is not giving the full information of guilt to the grand jury."
"I want this process out in the open, where everyone can observe it and make sure that it is fair to my son," the mother of slain 15-year-old #CourtneyWilliams told #Klobuchar in 2004.
"I know that your Office has confirmed that there is no legal requirement that this case be sent to the grand jury, unless you are asking for a charge of first degree murder. Are you going to ask for first degree murder? If not, then don't send this case to the grand jury."
"Prosecute this man," #CourtneyWilliams's mother wrote to #Klobuchar, "and make that decision yourself, and then be accountable to the people for it."
"I know that there is significant evidence in this case that this was no accident. I need you to be on the side of the People, and not the Police. Do you think that your Office has a conflict of interest, because you work so closely with the Minneapolis Police?"
"If you do keep this case, if you are the ones making the decision, then I need to know that the decision you make will not be influenced by your ongoing relationship with the Minneapolis Police. Please respond in writing."
#Klobuchar didn't answer the letter.
#Klobuchar didn't answer the letter.
#CourtneyWilliams's family had become suspicious after coroner's photos conflicted with the #police report. The pictures showed Williams was shot in the shoulder & head, leading them to believe he may have been raising his arms to show he wasn't a threat (MPR).
#Klobuchar presented the case to a grand jury, which found the #police officer was justified in killing the 15-year-old unarmed black teenager.
"The city of Minneapolis and Tahisha Williams Brewer reached a settlement of $20,000 in 2013. She said the money paid for her son's burial and tombstone. Her other children received $1,000 each" (MPRNews).
"Violence was a dark feature of law enforcement in MN's largest county 20 years ago." During #Klobuchar's tenure, Minneapolis paid $4.8 million in related to 122 incidents of police misconduct. Police killed 29 people. Klobuchar didn't file any charges. mprnews.org/story/2019/03/…
#Klobuchar "routinely put the decision to a grand jury, a process widely criticized for its secrecy and for mostly allowing the police version of events."
Activists urged Klobuchar to avoid a grand jury when #ChristopherBurns was killed by police in 2002 with a neck hold.
Activists urged Klobuchar to avoid a grand jury when #ChristopherBurns was killed by police in 2002 with a neck hold.
Police went to Burns's house on a domestic disturbance call. They claimed he resisted arrest & died during the neck hold because he was thrashing around. Hennepin Co Medical Examiner ruled the death a homicide.
#Klobuchar failed to prosecute.
#Klobuchar failed to prosecute.
"I think there was a significant amount of indifference on her part with regards to the problems facing the Native-American and African-American community," said a longtime civil rights activist who served on a police relations council created thru federal mediation.
#Klobuchar's "past decisions to not use the power of her office to punish bad cops or stand up for the communities she otherwise protected will contrast with a more progressive Democratic electorate calling for greater police accountability," wrote MPRNews in March 2019.
#Klobuchar's "legislative record today regarding criminal justice matters could be interpreted as an extension of her past: It shows little leadership on efforts to make the criminal justice system fairer."
#Klobuchar had the scantest record on criminal justice reform of all Senators running in 2020. "It gives me pause in thinking about her potentially becoming the next president of the United States," said Nekima Levy Armstrong, a lawyer & former president of the Minneapolis NAACP.
"'It's important for someone like #AmyKlobuchar to acknowledge the mistakes that she made and the harm that she caused and to make amends,'" the former MN #NAACP president told MPRNews in 2019.
"We really could not get her to pay attention to the issue of police brutality or even to the issue of racial disparities in the criminal justice system," the founder of Communities United Against Police Brutality in Minneapolis told MPRNews in 2019.
At a 2019 CNN town hall, #Klobuchar said she's been "working on racial justice issues her entire life."
But when MPRNews asked her about #CourtneyWilliams's killing or how she handled the 28 other killings on her watch, Klobuchar refused to comment.
But when MPRNews asked her about #CourtneyWilliams's killing or how she handled the 28 other killings on her watch, Klobuchar refused to comment.
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