Black Lives Matter Coverage

A Minnesota state court Monday convicted former police officer Tou Thao of aiding and abetting second degree manslaughter in the death of George Floyd. Thao was one of the four police officers present at the 2020 arrest that resulted in Floyd’s death. Unlike the other officers, Thao did not participate… Read more »

Michigan Circuit Judge Christina Elmore Friday refused to drop a second-degree murder charge against Christopher Schurr, a former police officer for the Grand Rapids Police Department. Schurr was on paid leave and then fired after fatally shooting Black motorist Patrick Lyoya in the back of the head during a struggle… Read more »

Breonna Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, Monday settled the lawsuits against City of Louisville for the shooting and death of Taylor in 2020. Taylor was killed in March 2020 during a botched no-knock warrant raid of her apartment by Lousiville Metro Police Department (LMPD) officers. Walker’s attorney Steve Romines, in a… Read more »

The American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota (ACLU-MN) Wednesday reached a settlement with the city of Minneapolis over police mistreatment of civilians during 2020 protests spurred by the murder of George Floyd. The settlement includes a $600,000 payment, $50,000 to each injured protester, and numerous reforms. The 12 plaintiffs suffered… Read more »

Former Minneapolis police officer J. Alexander Kueng Monday pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter for his involvement in the death of George Floyd, the Associated Press reported. At a later date, Kueng will be sentenced to 42 months in prison served concurrently with his existing three-year federal sentence for violating… Read more »

A New York Appellate Division court Thursday ruled to reinstate the state’s chokehold ban. Section 10-181 of New York’s administrative code, known as the “diaphragm law,” was passed in 2020 following the murder of George Floyd. The law states: No person shall restrain an individual in a manner that restricts… Read more »

The Minnesota Department of Human Rights (MDHR) Wednesday released a report on its investigation into patterns or practices of race discrimination by the City of Minneapolis and the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD). The investigation was begun on June 1, 2020, less than a week after an MPD officer murdered George… Read more »

The family of a Black man killed last week by Michigan police demanded Thursday that criminal charges be filed. Twenty-six-year-old Patrick Lyoya was stopped Monday, April 4, by Michigan police for an improper license plate. Grand Rapids police released striking dashcam video footage capturing the two-minute and 40-second interaction, which… Read more »

A jury for the US District Court for the District of Colorado Friday found that the Denver police used excessive force against protestors during the 2020 George Floyd protests and awarded a $14 million verdict to 12 protestors. This decision comes from a three-week trial that began on March 7.… Read more »

A Jefferson County Circuit Court jury on Thursday acquitted Detective Brett Hankison, a former Louisville Metro Police Department detective, of all three counts of felony wanton endangerment in connection with the March 2020 raid that killed Breonna Taylor.  Hankison was charged with felony wanton endangerment after he deliberately and blindly fired… Read more »

The trial of the only Louisville police officer charged in connection with Breonna Taylor’s death began Wednesday. Brett Hankison is charged, not for any actions that led to Taylor’s death, but for the wanton endangerment of people living in the apartment next to Taylor’s. Breonna Taylor was killed in March… Read more »

A Minnesota district court sentenced former police officer Kim Potter to two years in prison on Friday. Potter, the officer responsible for killing Daunte Wright last April, was sentenced on the charge of first-degree manslaughter. Convicted in December for first- and second-degree manslaughter, Potter was sentenced only on the more… Read more »

A Maine man was indicted by a federal grand jury Thursday on hate crimes charges relating to the arson of a Black church in Massachusetts. Dushko Vulchev was indicted on four counts of damage to religious property involving fire and one count of use of fire to commit a federal… Read more »

Two of the three men convicted in the 2020 murder of Ahmaud Arbery reached plea deals on Sunday, but District Judge Lisa Wood of the US District Court for the Southern District of Georgia rejected the plea deals on Monday.  Father and son duo Gregor and Travis McMichael, along with their… Read more »

The three white men convicted of murdering Ahmaud Arbery were sentenced to life in prison Friday by a Georgia superior court judge. Arbery, a 25-year-old Black man, was killed in February 2020 by father and son Gregory and Travis McMichael and William Bryan, who pursued Arbery in their pickup truck… Read more »

Recently, British MPs voted in favor of the contentious policing bill which will significantly broaden the scope of police powers to clamp down on non-violent protests. The rationale provided by the government is that the new Bill will empower policemen to protect both themselves and the public, facilitating the increased… Read more »

This year marks an important milestone for our democracy – the 50th Anniversary of the 26th Amendment to the United States Constitution. Yet, despite a recent Presidential proclamation recognizing the significance of this moment, few Americans know much about this part of our nation’s voting rights history. The 26th Amendment is… Read more »

The Photo That Haunts All of the United States In a recent JURIST post commemorating Memorial Day, May 31, 2021, one of us wrote about a photo that haunts us. Thanks to the kindness of Alessio Parisi, we are now able to share that photo with you. It is above… Read more »

George Floyd: I Can’t Breathe Jury: Guilty, Guilty, Guilty Biden: We Can’t Stop Here Outside the Hennepin County courthouse, Minnesota, Floyd family attorney Justin Miller said: What is justice when you lose a loved one? When you don’t have your father or your brother or your uncle anymore? I don’t… Read more »

Every Wednesday afternoon for years, Black Lives Matter activists and their partners chanted a simple demand outside the Los Angeles County Hall of Justice: “Jackie Lacey Must Go!” Elected in 2012, District Attorney Lacey presided over the largest prosecutorial office in the United States. These protests and the frustrations that… Read more »

Breonna Taylor’s killing is not only a tragedy, but a great injustice. The Kentucky Attorney General, despite having the power to contribute to repairing this unconscionable wrong, has failed. The Kentucky attorney general announced that no criminal charges will be filed for Breonna Taylor’s death against the individual officers who… Read more »

The nation has watched aghast as, over and over again, police have killed or maimed unarmed persons of color. Each time, the police have acted with impunity under a quiescent criminal justice system. The charges filed against officers involved in the death of George Floyd are the exception, not the… Read more »

The wanton endangerment charges did not do justice for your murder. We all know that and, from beyond the grave, we know you and all the ancestors know that. Your death is considered by the state to be unworthy of state interest. This endemic dysfunctionalism is evidenced by both federal… Read more »

El dicho, “El elefante en la habitación,” es comúnmente utilizado para referirse a un gran problema que dos o más personas son conscientes de, pero el cual se sienten incómodos de discutir. Por eso, ellos escogen ignorar el elefante. ¡Una cosa que nuestra nación finalmente se ha dado cuenta es… Read more »

“The elephant in the room” is a saying that is commonly used when referring to a huge issue that two or more people are aware of, but feel uncomfortable addressing. Hence, they simply choose to ignore it. One thing that our nation today seems to have finally realized is that… Read more »