Associated Press
Eds: Restores dropped word in last paragraph, ‘for.’ Will be updated after 11 a.m. PT news conference. With AP Photos.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California’s attorney general will announce Tuesday whether his office will file criminal charges against two Northern California police officers who shot and killed 22-year-old Stephon Clark last year.
Attorney General Xavier Becerra’s announcement follows the decision by Sacramento County District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert not to charge the two Sacramento Police officers, Terrance Mercadal and Jared Robinet. She said Saturday that the two officers broke no laws when they shot Clark.
Clark’s family and black community leaders have urged Becerra to reach a different conclusion.
“I would like for the attorney general to prosecute the officers,” his brother, Stevante Clark, said Sunday. “I want justice and accountability.”
Clark’s killing prompted intense protests last year in California’s capital city and sparked demonstrations across the U.S. Schubert’s decision has prompted a fresh round of demonstrations. More than 80 people were arrested during a Monday night protest in a wealthy Sacramento neighborhood.
Schubert concluded that the officers feared for their life when they shot Clark, who they thought was holding a gun. They were pursuing him after receiving calls about someone breaking car windows. Schubert said the evidence showed Clark was advancing toward the officers when they shot him.
Investigators found only a cellphone. Clark was shot in his grandmother’s backyard.
Schubert’s decision not to prosecute the officers has increased support by top state officials for a change to the state’s legal standard for when police can kill.
