Thread by @doctorow

Marsy's Law is a model victim's rights law that many states have adopted (it's on the ballot in Kentucky next week), often at the behest of law enforcement agencies that argue for the right to anonymity for the victims of crimes.

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But Marsy's Law is so broadly worded that one of its primary uses is to shield violent cops - even those who kill - from public scrutiny, as @usatoday's @kennyjacoby and @propublica's @ryangabrielson write today.

propublica.org/article/how-co…

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A Florida deputy handcuffed an intoxicated homeless man to a hospital bed and pepper-sprayed him in the face, then invoked Marsy's Law to remain anonymous on the grounds that his shoulder had been grazed by the wire from a pulse monitor, making him victim of a "battery."

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In Florida, Marsy's Law has been used "to hide the names of officers who sent a 15-year-old boy to the hospital, officers who fired bullets into moving cars and officers who released their K9 dogs on drunk and mentally ill people."

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In some Florida counties, 1 in 3 incidents in which a law enforcement officer commits a violent act against a member on the public leads to an invocation of Marsy's Law, which renders that officer anonymous.

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These cops cite minor injuries ("minor, blunt-forced injury to my left index finger") or no injury at all. Police departments often make the final determination about who gets Marsy's Law protections and when.

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Marsy's Law heads off civil cases related to public injuries and deaths at the hands of police, by making it impossible to look up officers' prior conduct.

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And recall that Marsy's Law is on Kentucky's ballot: if it had already been in effect in 2019, it might well have shielded the identities of the police officers who murdered #BreonnaTaylor.

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