Weak Seattle Prosecutors Refuse Grand Jury Request - No Justice for Native American Man Murdered by Police
Saturday, March 12, 2011 at 05:02PM 
From [HERE] and [HERE] SEATTLE -- The Seattle city attorney and King County prosecutor have declined a request by family members of slain woodcarver John T. Williams to convene a grand jury.
The family had called for a grand jury hearing to consider criminal charges against former Seattle police officer Ian Birk in Williams' shooting death.
In declining the request, King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg reiterated his previous reasoning -- that state law provides police officers more protection against criminal prosecution for homicide than it gives to ordinary citizens.
Satterberg added even though the Seattle Police Department's Firearms Review Board found Birk had "erred in several ways leading up to the shooting of Mr. Williams," he could not prove Birk acted with malice.
"As is clear from the language of the statute, the law provides that the officer may be prosecuted only if he acted with malice or bad faith," he wrote. "Making a series of tactical errors is not enough."
Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes deferred to Satterberg's decision in his refusal.
"The King County Prosecuting Attorney has determined that there will be no criminal prosecution in Mr. Williams' death. I respect Dan Satterberg's role as our elected felony prosecutor, and the charging decision was his to make," Holmes wrote.
Holmes added even if a grand jury were convened, "it is unlikely that the grand jury would indict after being instructed to apply present Washington law to the facts already developed before the inquest jury in January 2011."
Williams was gunned down by Birk last August.
Birk said he shot Williams after he refused to obey his commands to put down a knife. But dash cam footage of the incident showed Birk gave Williams just seven seconds to react before opening fire.
During an inquest into Williams' death, Birk claimed Williams lunged at him with the knife. But a photo taken at the scene showed Williams' carving knife was in the closed position.
The inquest's findings were inconclusive, but the Firearms Review Board found the fatal shooting was not justified.
Birk has since resigned from the force. Seattle Police Chief John Diaz last week said he'd planned to fire Birk had he not resigned.
Reader Comments (4)
<a href="http://www.smithmonitoring.com/houston-security/">Houston Home Security</a>