Global Courant 2023-04-18 00:29:34
Two Torrance police officers are charged with voluntary manslaughter in a 2018 shooting after Los Angeles County Dist. Attention. George Gascón decided to reopen a case his predecessor refused to prosecute, according to an indictment released Monday.
A grand jury indicted Matthew Concannon and Anthony Chavez on one count each for voluntary manslaughter in the death by shooting death of Christopher Deandre Mitchell, who was in a suspected stolen car with an air rifle between his knees when the officer opened fire, court records show .
The indictment was returned on March 24, and the officers’ lawyers were notified of the indictment decision last week.
The officers pleaded not guilty Monday morning during a brief arraignment in downtown LA. The courtroom was crowded with many of Mitchell’s loved ones, including his mother, and several organizers of Black Lives Matter Los Angeles, which has been vociferously protesting the shooting for years.
Former Dist. Attention. Jackie Lacey decided not to prosecute Concannon and Chavez, but the case was one of four Gascón that a special prosecutor hired to reopen when he took office in 2020 with a promise to hold police accountable for on-duty killings and incidents of excessive force . The case against the officers is the first of four to be brought by Lawrence Middleton, the special prosecutor hired to lead the reviews.
“It’s been four and a half years, still counting, since this family fought,” Terrell Traylor, Mitchell’s uncle, said outside the courthouse.
Gascón is expected to speak about the matter at a press conference this afternoon.
In December 2018, Concannon and Chavez were responding to reports of a man riding in a stolen vehicle and ran into Mitchell in a Ralph’s parking lot in Torrance, according to an earlier district attorney’s memo clearing the officers of wrongdoing.
The officers parked behind Mitchell, got out of their vehicle and yelled, “Police!” According to the memo, Mitchell initially put his hands on the steering wheel.
The officers repeatedly ordered Mitchell to get out of the car, but according to the report, he did not comply. As they approached him, officers saw Mitchell’s hands move to his lap, where Concannon saw what he thought was a firearm. Both officers then shot Mitchell at close range, killing him.
The officers described the weapon, later determined to be a “break-barreled air rifle”, as “squeezed” between Mitchell’s legs, though neither claimed to have grabbed it or aimed it at them before they shot him.
Concannon and Chavez have both been linked to a racist texting scandal within the Torrance Police Department, after an investigation found about 15 officers sent about 390 racist, sexist and homophobic messages between 2018 and 2020. killed, an officer suggested he wanted to shoot and hang several black suspects and a photo of a teddy bear being lynched at police headquarters, according to documents previously reviewed by The Times.
While The Times never found evidence that Concannon or Chavez sent any of the messages, they were both investigated as part of the scandal, according to documents previously reviewed by the paper and sources who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Messages sent by unidentified officers used the N-word to describe Mitchell’s loved ones and celebrated other officers’ decision to use force against protesters supporting Mitchell’s family at a demonstration in front of the Torrance City Council. Several officers who used racist language in the messages were also later charged with using excessive force against protesters, according to multiple civil lawsuits filed in recent years.
“This case is clearly a murder case, and the texting scandal involving messages about Christopher and his family speaks volumes about the racist nature of the Torrance Police Department,” said Sheila Bates, a Black Lives Matter organizer who was arrested and injured during the protest from the city council.
Chavez is no longer a police officer in Torrance, according to a list released last year in response to a public records request from The Times. According to his attorney, Lisa Houle, Concannon was placed on administrative leave after news of the charges broke last week.
Gascón’s decision to pursue a case his predecessor declined to file is certainly a legal rarity, but experts said it’s unclear how much Lacey’s past decision-making would weigh on a new criminal case.
“I’m not sure how easily the defense will get that in front of a jury…I don’t know if it would be admissible. I don’t know if it’s relevant,” said Laurie Levenson, a former federal prosecutor and professor at Loyola Law School. “I’m not sure how that goes for a jury, and it could be that with the cross-examination of individual witnesses that there have been problems evaluating some of the cases before… but I don’t think the defense will be able to say: “Hasn’t your office rejected this before?” ”
