Month: May 2025

Mistrial Declared in Ex-Mich. Police Officer’s 2nd-Degree Murder Trial

A jury was hopelessly deadlocked in the trial of former Grand Rapids Police Officer Christopher Schurr, stemming from a 2022 traffic stop that ended in the fatal shooting of a 26-year-old man.

The murder trial for the Grand Rapids police officer who killed Patrick Lyoya has resulted in a hung jury.

A mistrial was declared after the jury hopelessly deadlocked on the second-degree murder charge against Christopher Schurr, the police officer who has since been fired. As a result, Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker will have to decide whether to refile charges against Schurr.

Read on HERE

Tyre Nichols verdict: 3 former Memphis officers acquitted in fatal beating of Tyre Nichols after he fled a traffic stop – ABC7 Los Angeles

Three former Memphis officers were acquitted Wednesday of state charges, including second-degree murder, in the fatal beating of Tyre Nichols after he ran away from a traffic stop in 2023.

A jury took about 8 1/2 hours over two days to find Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley and Justin Smith not guilty on all charges after a nine-day trial in state court in Memphis. After the jury’s verdict was read, the defendants hugged their lawyers as relatives of the former officers cried. One relative yelled, “Thank you, Jesus!”

The three defendants still face the prospect of years in prison after they were convicted of federal charges last year.

Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man, fled a traffic stop after he was yanked out of his car, pepper-sprayed and hit with a Taser. Five officers who are also Black caught up with him and punched, kicked and hit Nichols with a police baton, struggling to handcuff him as he called out for his mother just steps from his home. Nichols died Jan. 10, 2023, three days after the beating.
— Read on abc7.com/post/tyre-nichols-verdict-3-former-memphis-officers-acquitted-fatal-beating-he-fled-traffic-stop/16349930/

Why Eugene is ending its partnership with CAHOOTS crisis teams

After nearly three decades of working with CAHOOTS in various capacities, Eugene officials announced the city has cut ties with the mobile crisis intervention teams effective Monday.

The complete service reduction comes nearly two weeks after the White Bird Clinic announced it was temporarily reducing service hours for CAHOOTS mobile crisis teams in Eugene to one day a week while the organization navigates financial challenges.
— Read on www.registerguard.com/story/news/local/2025/04/08/why-eugene-is-ending-its-partnership-with-cahoots-crisis-teams/82978680007/

Abbott’s Bail Agenda Could Swell Texas Jails, Test U.S. Constitution

Edric Wilson spent 18 years awaiting a murder trial that would never come. From September 2006 until his release earlier this year, he split his time between the Harris County Jail and state psychiatric hospitals, with little or no hope of release. For 12 years, he was denied bail completely. Eventually, a judge set his bail at $850,000, which his family couldn’t afford. So he kept waiting. 
Texas jails around 70,000 people at any one time, and more than half are awaiting trial, per the Texas Commission on Jail Standards. A third of jail admissions nationwide are for misdemeanors, and nine out of the 10 most common charges are nonviolent, including drug offenses and failure to appear in court, according to the Prison Policy Initiative.
— Read on www.texasobserver.org/bail-legislature-abbott-jails/

The Fantasy of a World Without Police

Readers shouldn’t take Hudson’s presentation of these incidents as the warts-and-all truth, however. For example, in decrying cops’ use of riot-control tactics against Standing Rock protesters, who opposed a section of the Dakota Access Pipeline near a Native American reservation, she neglects to mention that the massive, lengthy protests involved road blockades and torched vehicles. In recounting how the killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, launched a protest movement, she recalls that “hands up, don’t shoot!” became a “rallying cry” without admitting that the precipitating incident never happened.
— Read on www.city-journal.org/article/defund-the-police-black-lives-matter-sandy-hudson-book

Research at the DAO – PhilaDAO Data Dashboard

Research at the DAO
The DATA Lab at the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office (DAO) uses police, court, and other data streams to support a wide range of research on the criminal legal system. Following are DAO DATA Lab grant-funded partnerships, DAO research publications and published and ongoing studies with research partners. We work with external partners across all phases of the research arc to help develop impactful interventions, evaluations, and scholarship. This includes discussions around data sharing, data use agreements, and facilitating research involving Assistant District Attorneys (ADAs) and DAO personnel.
— Read on data.philadao.com/Research