Rogers, 22, was unarmed and
sitting in his car when Burns shot him in the head and killed him, and dashcam
video showed ‘no provocation’ for the shooting
Former Atlanta police officer
James Burns was indicted by a grand jury Wednesday for the murder of Deravis
Caine Rogers.
Rogers, 22, was sitting in his
car when Burns shot him in the head and killed him, and dashcam video showed
“no provocation” for the shooting, according to the police investigation.
Despite the overwhelming evidence
in his case, the indictment marks a shift in prosecutions of police killings,
both nationally and in Georgia.
A 2014 Wall Street Journal
analysis found that over a seven-year period ending in 2011, just 41 people
were charged nationwide. For Georgia, Burns is now the second law enforcement
officer in over five years to be indicted for killing a civilian while on duty.
The previous indictment took place earlier this year, when former Dekalb County
police officer Robert Olsen was charged with the murder of Anthony Hill, also
young, unarmed and black.
“Though nothing can bring our son back, we
know this is a powerful first step,” Rogers’ parents said in a statement after
the indictment.
Georgia’s grand jury
investigations in officer-involved shootings like have been the subject of
significant backlash: until a new law passed this year, officers in Georgia
were allowed to sit in on the entire hearing, including the prosecution’s
evidence against them, and had the opportunity to make a statement at the end
without being challenged or questioned – privileges granted to officers only in
Georgia.
The law was cited as one symptom
of a justice system that did not hold one officer responsible for police
shootings over a more than five-year period. Of 184 Georgians shot and killed
by police officers since 2010 – nearly half of whom were unarmed or shot in the
back – none of the officers involved were indicted, according to an Atlanta
Journal-Constitution investigation last year.
The new law curtailing these
privileges took effect on 1 July this year, but because Rogers was killed prior
to that it did not affect this hearing.
In the hours before the
indictment was announced, roughly 200 people gathered for a vigil that lasted
24 hours before and during James Burns’ hearing. Supporters stayed outside the
Fulton County courthouse overnight, and held signs listing the names of people
killed at the hands of cops. The list included Jamarion Robinson, a 26-year-old
shot and killed by US marshals last month while being served arrest warrants.
“We know that we’ve got to continue
fighting to make sure that he is sent to jail,” said Dre Norman, who stayed
outside the courthouse overnight, referring to Burns.
Burns was charged with two
violations of oath of office, aggravated assault, felony murder, and making a
false statement.
Shean Williams, a partner at the
Cochran Law Firm, placed blame on the police department for failing “to provide
adequate training and discipline to officer Burns” such that it is “ultimately
responsible for the death of Caine Rogers through the actions of officer
Burns”.
After Rogers’ death, Xochitl
Bervera, director of the Racial Justice Action Center, called on Atlanta police
chief George Turner to take responsibility for his department’s role in the
incident.
“Chief Turner needs to
acknowledge that killings happen when officers are trained to see community
members as enemies and neighborhoods as combat zones to occupy,” she said.
“Until we get rid of broken window policing and policing for profit, we will
continue to see officers violating the rights of – and sometimes ending the
lives of – our friends, neighbors and fellow residents.”
When asked about changes to
training protocol since Rogers death, Atlanta police spokesperson Sgt Warren
Pickard answered:
“The actions that Burns took in
this incident were the result of his decision-making, not as a result of
training.”
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