Why does our government keep killing people in the street?

10 months ago, I was approached to provide my thoughts on the extrajudicial murders of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile because of my background as a former prosecutor. Sadly, given the recent shooting death of 15 year old Jordan Edwards, I feel like its important to bring up this topic again.

Full disclosure, I was only a prosecutor for a short period of time before I moved across country for family obligations, but I happened to work for one of the biggest prosecuting offices in the country.

In that post I briefly outlined the constitutional right to due process, the right to confront witnesses, the right to be represented by counsel of their choice (barring a few rules regarding indigence), the right to a trial by a jury of peers, and the right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment. Everyone, regardless of citizenship, class, race, religion, is entitled to these rights.

So why does the State keep killing people in the street outside of this judicial process?

I know what you are thinking, “wait a minute?! The State isn’t doing anything? These are individual police officers who are shooting people? These officers feared for their lives; they have a right to go home at night to their families!” Before countless people get offended, let me assure you this is not an anti-police post. This is a reminder to so many people that while there may have been individual people involved in these incidents, once those officers put on that uniform and affix that badge to their chest, they are no longer individuals in the eyes of the State. Those officers are the State.

Those officers are state actors; any action or inaction they take while on the job is imputed to the government.

Capital punishment is a legal penalty that is in place in 31 out of the 50 states in the United States and is only applied in cases where people are convicted of murder. However, not every murder case is a case where capital punishment is appropriate or sought by the State. Logistically, capital punishment is applied through execution; most prisons use lethal injection.

Why then, if the death penalty only applies to some murder cases and only in some states, is there is a trend in this country where people of all colors (though statistically and sadly more people of color) are being executed by by the State pre-arrest, pre-conviction, and pre-sentencing? These people are being executed during routine traffic stops, on public transportation for fighting, for selling CDs and cigarettes on the street corner, for running away from police, prior to arriving in jail for carrying pocket knives, and for driving down the street after leaving a house party. These people are being denied due process under the law. These offenses (even if they are illegal) are not punishable under the law by execution.

Rodrigo Duterte, the President of the Philippines, is blasted by the media and politicians for murdering people accused of selling and distributing drugs. The UN has criticized Duterte for these and other human rights violations.

When we look at extra-judicial killings in other countries we are all outraged. Yet when we see extra-judicial killings in our own country, the silence can be overwhelming.

Instead, we see commentary about what a good person he/she was and that this shouldn’t have happened to them because they were nice, accomplished, a good father, athletic, on the honor roll. None of that matters. This shouldn’t have happened to them because the State is not supposed to execute anyone outside of the due process system that we have in place. Charles Manson, a convicted serial murderer, wasn’t even executed by the State and he has been convicted of murdering at least seven (7) people and is serving 9 consecutive life sentences.

If Charles Manson is still alive, then why are Tamir Rice, Alton Sterling, Philando Castile, Eric Garner, Jordan Edwards, Tanisha Anderson, Walter Scott, Freddie Gray, Oscar Grant, Korryn Gaines, and Terence Crutcher (just to name a few) all dead when none of them were convicted of first-degree murder?

It is our duty as citizens, residents, and especially those of us who are lawyers, to ensure that the constitutional rights of all of us are being protected. We condemn extra-judicial killings in other countries as inhumane and violations of human rights; it’s time we start condemning those same acts as they happen in our own backyard.