The white cop who killed Jemel Roberson, a black security guard, won’t be charged with a crime, CNN reported on Friday, October 2, 2020, adding,
“Kim Foxx, Cook County State’s Attorney, said in a statement, ‘The death of Jemel Roberson is tragically heartbreaking, and while it might feel to some people like justice was not served here, I have both an ethical and legal obligation to make charging decisions based on the law and the evidence. … [W]hile it might feel to some people like justice was not served here, I have both an ethical and legal obligation to make charging decisions based on the law and the evidence.'”
Roberson was a hero. He tackled a shooter who walked into a bar and opened fire, wounding 4 people. When the cops arrived, Officer Ian Covey saw Roberson was armed and killed him. Wikipedia describes the controversy here:
“Witnesses stated that Roberson was wearing a vest that had the word ‘SECURITY’ printed on it, while an Illinois State Police … investigation stated he was wearing plain black clothing with no markings identifying him as security. The ISP report stated the … officer gave Roberson ‘multiple verbal commands’ to drop his gun and get on the ground, while witnesses said the officer shot Roberson ‘not even five seconds’ after ordering Roberson to drop the gun. … Eyewitnesses claimed that Roberson had the suspect pinned to the ground with his knee when police arrived and fatally shot Roberson, after multiple bystanders shouted warnings that Roberson was a security guard. An eyewitness told reporters that after the shooting another officer turned to the officer involved and said; ‘Man you didn’t have to do that, you didn’t have to do that. We know these guys. We told you they’re security.’ … The police department initially argued that Roberson ignored ‘verbal commands’ before the shooting, but later released a second statement claiming that the shooting was a case of ‘friendly fire,’ and that Roberson’s death was a tragic accident.”
So you have all the eyewitnesses saying the ISP report is BS and the police department later changing its story and admitting the officer was wrong to shoot Roberson. But there will be no criminal charges against him.
As I wrote before here, no one should ever be “prosecuted for political reasons, e.g. to placate community outrage. Let’s not even have that discussion; don’t go there at all.”
Generalizing about the legal system is problematic when discussing a specific case, as we are here, because legal outcomes are always highly fact-dependent, i.e. determined by the specific facts of the case. Kim Foxx, a black woman, can’t plausibly be accused of making a racially-motivated decision to protect a white cop who shot a black man.
If Covey’s actions didn’t constitute a crime under the law, it would be unethical to prosecute him. If she did prosecute him, she’d have to get a 12-person jury to unanimously agree the evidence shows beyond a reasonable doubt that he committed the charged crime, and the evidence may not be strong enough to satisfy that burden of proof. Prosecutors routinely make these kinds of judgments. By all appearances, she based her decision on the case facts and law, which is how it should and must be done.
There are different kinds of justice, and criminal prosecution isn’t always essential for justice. In the vast majority of car accident cases involving death or serious injury, the driver at fault pays a fine for a traffic violation, but isn’t criminally charged. Sometimes, some people feel a civil settlement isn’t enough justice, but it’s a form of justice. Firing a cop for violating department policy is, too.
Justice remains incomplete in this case. Officer Covey hasn’t been fired, and it doesn’t look like he will be. There’s been no civil settlement, either, but Roberson’s mother is suing the city and I expect she’ll get a substantial settlement. These days municipalities commonly pay $2 million and up in similar cases. Money won’t bring her son back, but prosecuting Covey wouldn’t, either. When someone dies, only imperfect justice is possible, but even that is something, not nothing. Many things in life are imperfect; that’s simply reality.
The best form of justice would be to hire the best people possible for police work, train them as well as possibly can be done, and supervise them properly. Demanding and getting the highest possible professionalism in our police agencies probably won’t completely eliminate tragedies like this one, but it certainly can prevent a lot of them. America’s policing has a long way to go, and there’s much work to be done. Not doing it is what “no justice” really looks like.
Photo: Cook County state’s attorney Kim Foxx, the prosecutor who decided not to charge Officer Covey