Two Torrance cops will face voluntary manslaughter fees in a 2018 taking pictures after Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. George Gascón determined to reopen a case his predecessor declined to prosecute, based on an indictment unsealed Monday.
A grand jury indicted Matthew Concannon and Anthony Chavez on one depend every of voluntary manslaughter within the taking pictures loss of life of Christopher Deandre Mitchell, who was sitting in a suspected stolen automotive with an air rifle between his knees when the officer opened fireplace, court docket data present.
The indictment was returned March 24, and the officers’ attorneys have been notified of the choice to indict final week.
The officers pleaded not responsible throughout a quick arraignment in downtown L.A. Monday morning. The courtroom was lined with a lot of Mitchell’s family members, together with his mom, and several other organizers with Black Lives Matter Los Angeles, which has vociferously protested the taking pictures for years.
Former Dist. Atty. Jackie Lacey determined to not prosecute Concannon and Chavez, however the case was one in all 4 Gascón employed a particular prosecutor to reopen when he swept into workplace in 2020 on a promise of holding police accountable for on-duty killings and extreme drive incidents. The case in opposition to the officers is the primary of these 4 to be introduced by Lawrence Middleton, the particular prosecutor employed to steer the evaluations.
“It’s been 4 and a half years, nonetheless counting, that this household has been preventing,” mentioned Terrell Traylor, Mitchell’s uncle, exterior the courthouse.
Gascón is anticipated to discuss the case at a day information convention.
In December 2018, Concannon and Chavez have been responding to studies of a person driving a stolen automobile and stumbled on Mitchell in a Ralph’s parking zone in Torrance, based on an earlier district lawyer’s workplace memo clearing the officers of wrongdoing.
The officers parked behind Mitchell, exited their automobile and yelled, “Police!” Mitchell initially positioned his arms on the steering wheel, based on the memo.
The officers repeatedly ordered Mitchell to get out of the automotive, however he didn’t comply, based on the report. Once they approached him, the officers observed Mitchell’s arms transfer towards his lap, the place Concannon noticed what he believed to be a firearm. Each officers then shot Mitchell at shut vary, killing him.
The officers described the weapon, later decided to be a “break barrel air rifle,” as “pinched” between Mitchell’s legs, although neither alleged he grabbed it or pointed it at them earlier than they shot him.
Concannon and Chavez have each been linked to a racist texting scandal contained in the Torrance Police Division, after an investigation revealed roughly 15 officers despatched roughly 390 racist, sexist and homophobic messages from 2018 to 2020. The messages included jokes about organising Black males to be killed, one officer suggesting he wished to shoot and cling a number of Black suspects and an image of a teddy bear being lynched contained in the police departments headquarters, based on paperwork beforehand reviewed by The Occasions.
Whereas The Occasions by no means discovered proof that Concannon or Chavez despatched any of the messages, they have been each below investigation as a part of the scandal, based on paperwork beforehand reviewed by the newspaper and sources who spoke on the situation of anonymity.
Messages despatched by unidentified officers used the N-word to explain Mitchell’s family members and celebrated different officers’ resolution to make use of drive in opposition to protesters who supported Mitchell’s household throughout an indication in entrance of the Torrance Metropolis Council. A number of of the officers who used racist language within the messages have been additionally later accused of utilizing extreme drive in opposition to protesters, based on a number of civil lawsuits filed in recent times.
“This case is clearly a homicide case, and the textual content messaging scandal which included messages about Christopher and his household converse volumes in regards to the racist nature of the Torrance Police Division,” mentioned Sheila Bates, a Black Lives Matter organizer who was arrested and injured in the course of the Metropolis Council protest.
Chavez is now not a Torrance police officer, based on a roster launched in response to a public data request from The Occasions final 12 months. Concannon was positioned on administrative depart after information of the indictment broke final week, based on his lawyer, Lisa Houle.
Gascón’s resolution to pursue a case that his predecessor declined to file is definitely a authorized rarity, however consultants mentioned it’s unclear how a lot Lacey’s previous decision-making would weigh on a brand new prison case.
“I’m undecided how simply the protection will get that in entrance of a jury … I don’t know that it will be admissible. I don’t know that it’s related,” mentioned Laurie Levenson, a former federal prosecutor and professor at Loyola Regulation Faculty. “I’m undecided how that goes in entrance of a jury, and it’d come all the way down to in cross inspecting particular person witnesses that there have been issues earlier than in evaluating a number of the circumstances … however I don’t assume the protection will be capable to say, ‘Didn’t your workplace reject this earlier than?’ ”
