In this part in our police brutality killings we look at the potential legal problems that prosecutions will face in each of the cases. To start, we will look at the case that is potentially going to be the most problematic for the prosecution. In the case against the officers in the death of Rayshard Brooks, the prosecution is going to need to prove that a taser is not a deadly weapon. Traditionally, police have always referred to the taser as non-lethal. However, they are now flipping the script and actually saying that a taser is only non-lethal if used by a trained officer. Fortunately, for the prosecution, there is a good bit of distance between Mr. Brooks and the officers, which takes away from the ability for a taser to take someone’s life.
In the Breonna Taylor case, even though there are currently no pending actions against the officers involved in this matter, there is a potential issue with how the police carried out this particular warrant. Here, we are looking at the information that was provided to the district judge that issued the warrant. It would be up to an investigating DA to try and prove that the police purposefully did not give accurate information to substantiate the issuance of the original warrant.
In the Amhaud Arbery case, the prosecution will need to prove that the underlying felony for the felony-murder charge. In this case it Is the aggravated assault charge. If the prosecution is able to prove this, they would be able to indict all parties involved in this particular incident. The problem arises in the fact that the video recording that Bryan was taking. The crucial moment in time that the prosecution needs to show that Arbery was not the initial aggressor is not directly on film. Without this, the prosecution will have a difficult time proving the underlying felony for the overall murder charges.
Lastly, in the George Floyd case, the prosecution will need to, again, prove the underlying felony that eventually caused the death of Mr. Floyd. The most important factor they will need to prove is the mindset of Officer Chauvin and what his intentions were at the time he was kneeling on Mr. Floyds neck. They will need to prove that when he was kneeling on Mr. Floyds neck, Officer Chauvin had the knowledge that his actions would certainly take the life of Mr. Floyd while he was intentionally inflicting bodily injury.