A grand jury has declined to indict a former Georgia state soldier who shot a black man at a traffic stop last year for a broken taillight.
Relatives of the victim, Julian Edward Roosevelt Lewis, 60, said they were disappointed with the decision and asked the prosecutor to appoint a new grand jury to re-indict ex-soldier Jacob Thompson.
Lindsay Milton, the victim’s mother, hinted that race was a factor in the grand jury’s decision on Monday not to charge the white Mr Thompson. “You are going to release this young man because my child was black; No, that won’t work, “she told reporters at a press conference on Tuesday. “We’ll see this through to the end.”
Left phone and email messages for District Attorney Daphne J. Totten and one of Mr. Thompson’s attorneys were not immediately returned or answered on Tuesday evening.
Francys Johnson, an attorney for Mr Lewis’ family, said the family also wanted a meeting with the district attorney and the release of a police video of the shooting by officers. “The public deserved it – they paid for it,” Johnson said at the press conference. Then he said, referring to the grand jury members, “And it has now been shown to 22 citizens in Screven County, but it has not been shown to Julian’s mother or his wife or his lawyer.”
Mr Thompson, 27, was arrested days after the August 7th traffic control and the fatal shooting of Mr Lewis and charged with murder and aggravated assault.
At around 9:20 p.m., according to a report from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Mr. Thompson discovered Mr. Lewis near Sylvania, Georgia, about 60 miles northwest of Savannah, driving with a broken taillight. The state trooper followed Mr. Lewis and tried to stop him, but he kept driving and Mr. Thompson used his patrol vehicle to make Mr. Lewis’ car turn, causing him to stop in a ditch, the report said.
Mr Thompson drew his gun as he got out of his vehicle, he told investigators, saying he saw Mr Lewis try to maneuver his vehicle towards him, causing him to fire his weapon. Mr Lewis was hit once and pronounced dead on the scene, the report said.
But Dustin Peak, an agent with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, testified in September that it would have been impossible because Mr Lewis’ vehicle was inoperable after it went into the ditch and the car battery was disconnected, The Associated Press reported.
The Georgia Department of Public Safety said in a statement that Mr. Thompson had been fired for “negligence or inefficiency in performing his assigned duties”; or committing a crime. “
Mr Johnson said Georgia law allows district attorneys to set up new grand juries if a previous one refused to bring charges. “We think this was a very strong case,” said Johnson. “The evidence was there and still is.”
