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A28 u.s. news
Dialuna 21 Juni 2021

Family seeks 2nd chance at charging officer in man's death

(AP) — A judge will de- clined to file charges. of any criminal liability, he
cide this week whether clearly acted in self-defense
to charge a Wisconsin Citizen-initiated John Does and Motley didn’t have any
police officer who killed are rarely used in Wisconsin. new evidence to present.
a man sitting in a parked Marcus Berghahn, a criminal
car, after the man’s family defense attorney and adjunct Wauwatosa Police Chief
invoked a rarely used le- law professor at the Univer- Barry Weber testified in May
gal process in a bid to get sity of Wisconsin-Madison, that he considered Anderson
around prosecutors who said they happen perhaps armed, the Milwaukee Jour-
cleared the officer. once or twice a decade in the nal Sentinel reported.
state. Motley said she’s not
Joseph Mensah shot Jay An- aware of any John Does be- Motley subpoenaed Mensah,
derson Jr. in 2016 after he ing used against police offi- but Ceremele said he would
discovered him sleeping in cers. simply invoke his Fifth
his car after hours in a park Amendment right against
in Wauwatosa, a Milwaukee Motley filed a petition seek- self-incrimination and
suburb. Mensah said Ander- ing one in February. She ar- wouldn’t speak. He didn’t
son was reaching for a gun. gued in the filing that no appear in court after Yamahi-
Wauwatosa officer besides ro accepted that contention,
Anderson was the second Mensah has shot and killed Motley said.
of three people Mensah zales refused to drop a sword. tigations, prosecutors can in- anyone in the line of duty in
killed during a five-year stint The Anderson shooting came voke the process to subpoena more than a decade. She also Motley said Anderson’s case
with the Wauwatosa Police the following year. witnesses and question them highlighted the 19 shots he could point the way for other
Department. Prosecutors under oath and in secret in fired in the three incidents, families who have lost loved
cleared Mensah in each case. In 2020, Mensah shot and hopes of gathering enough calling it “an extraordinary ones to police and want to
But an attorney for Ander- killed 17-year-old Alvin Cole evidence to justify charges number.” pursue the accountabil-
son’s family stumbled onto as Cole fled from police fol- against someone. Prosecutors ity they feel they didn’t get
an obscure legal option to lowing a disturbance in a mall. used the process in the early “Most police officers never when a prosecutor decided
force a grand jury-like pro- Cole was Black. Mensah said 2010s to investigate then-Re- fire a single shot in the line not to charge an officer. She
ceeding against Mensah in he shot Cole because Cole publican Gov. Scott Walker’s of duty during their career said she’s weighing whether
which a judge rather than a pointed a gun at him. That campaign operations. Walker and multiple homicides by a to pursue the same process
jury hears evidence. shooting sparked months of was never charged. single officer is an even rarer for the Cole and Gonzales
protests, and Chisholm’s de- occurrence,” she wrote. families.
A Milwaukee judge could cision not to charge Mensah An even more obscure sec-
implement the little-used set off several more nights of tion of the John Doe law al- She alleged that Anderson Justin Blake, whose nephew
procedure on Friday and protests in Wauwatosa in Oc- lows citizens to ask a judge never touched the gun on Jacob was paralyzed from the
charge Mensah directly. It’s a tober. to open a John Doe when a the passenger seat, and said waist down after being shot
case being watched by at least prosecutor has declined to Chisholm faces a conflict of by a Kenosha police officer in
one other family frustrated Mensah resigned from the file charges. The judge can interest whenever he reviews August, attended one of the
by a prosecutor’s decision Wauwatosa Police Depart- choose to initiate the inves- an officer-involved death. Mensah hearings. He said the
not to charge a police officer ment the following month, tigation and decide whether The risk Mensah poses to family is trying to familiar-
who shot their loved one. collecting a $130,000 sev- to run it publicly or in secret. public safety is too great not ize itself with the John Doe
erance payment. He now The citizen or his or her at- to appoint a special prosecu- process. A Kenosha County
“We kind of thought that was works as a Waukesha County torney can question wit- tor, she said. prosecutor cleared the officer
it,” Anderson’s father, Jay sheriff’s deputy. nesses in front of the judge in Jacob Blake’s case, saying
Anderson Sr, said of Milwau- with no cross-examination. Milwaukee County Cir- Jacob Blake had been fighting
kee County District Attorney Kimberley Motley, an attor- The judge can then decide cuit Judge Glenn Yamahiro with officers and was wield-
John Chisholm’s decision ney representing the Gonza- whether to issue charges and agreed to open an investiga- ing a knife.
not to charge Mensah. “They les, Anderson and Cole fami- appoint a special prosecutor tion, and heard testimony at
let him get away with murder lies, said she was researching to handle the case. five public hearings. “It would be just tremendous
is what they did.” He called the use of grand juries in Wis- if we were able to indict this
the hearing “a blessing to me consin in hopes of finding At least six other states, in- Motley has asked Yamahiro to criminal cop,” Justin Blake
and my family.” another avenue for charges cluding Kansas, Nebraska charge Mensah with second- said, referring to Mensah.
and found what’s known as and North Dakota, have sim- degree reckless homicide and “That would lay the ground-
Mensah, who is Black, joined the John Doe option. ilar provisions for citizen-ini- homicide by negligent use of work for our family to get
the Wauwatosa Police De- tiated grand juries. A Kansas a weapon. justice for Little Jake when
partment in 2015, the same Wisconsin law dating to the woman who alleges she was we’ve had no justice. There’s
year he shot and killed Anto- state’s territorial days set up raped collected enough peti- Mensah’s attorney, Jon Cere- just so much leeway for cops
nio Gonzales, who identified such proceedings as a check tion signatures last month to mele, didn’t return a mes- to get out when they do
as a Latino and American In- on prosecutorial discretion. force a grand jury investiga- sage. He said in February criminal stuff. This is a way
dian. Prosecutors said Gon- Similar to grand jury inves- tion after prosecutors de- that Mensah has been cleared to keep their feet to the fire.”

Body of fourth tuber has been found in North Carolina river

(AP) — The body of a fourth tu- town of Eden. dent. A group of nine people were for trapping people in the powerful
ber has been found in a North floating down the river on inflatable current that churns at their base.
Carolina river following a dead- The sheriff’s office said crews have tubes when they went over a dam.
ly accident in which a family on begun efforts to recover the body. Four people were rescued Thurs- Dan Riverkeeper Steven Pulliam
a recreational float went over a The victim’s identity is yet to be day, while three tubers’ bodies were of Stoneville told The News & Re-
dam, local officials said Sunday. confirmed. Two tubers had been found that day. cord in Greenville that he wonders
missing. One was a 7-year-old boy. if recent rains created mud that ob-
The Rockingham County Sheriff’s The other was a 35-year-old wom- The group went over a dam that’s scured a portage area where boaters
Office said in a news release that an. about 8 feet (2.5 meters) high next and tubers can exit and walk around
authorities received a 911 call about to a Duke Energy plant. Boating ex- the dam’s powerful currents.
10 a.m. reporting a body in the Dan One tuber now remains missing perts told The News & Record that
River near a boat landing in the following Wednesday night’s acci- such low-head dams are notorious