Posted on 06/11/2022 6:47:32 AM PDT by george76
Recently revealed records show the Department of Justice (DOJ) recommended “that the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia decline for criminal prosecution in the fatal shooting of Ashli McEntee Babbitt.”
The documents note that the shooter, U.S. Capitol Police Lt. Michael Byrd, “did not create a police report or documents” related to the shooting of Babbitt. Byrd, who is black, was cleared of criminal wrongdoing in the killing of Babbitt, who was white and unarmed during the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riots.
Judicial Watch, a watchdog group, obtained the records through a lawsuit after the Justice Department violated the law and failed to respond to Freedom of Information (FOIA) requests for records related to Babbitt's death. (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of Justice)
Byrd shot and killed Babbitt, an Air Force veteran, as she climbed through a broken interior window in the Capitol. Many criticized the shooting as unjustified and unprovoked. However, prosecutors ultimately said there was no proof that Byrd acted in a way that was criminal.
Byrd's identity was kept hidden from the public by Congress, the Justice Department, and DC police for eight months until he went public to defend his actions.
These records show that Lt. Byrd was given special treatment by the Biden DOJ and that there was a miscarriage of justice in the half-baked shooting death investigation of Ashli Babbitt.
Lt. Byrd, who works for Congress, shot an unarmed woman for no good reason. I suspect that this unjustified shooting isn’t of much interest to the Pelosi rump January 6 committee.”
Tom Fitton, Judicial Watch President The records contain the prosecution declination memorandum justifying the decision not to prosecute Byrd for the shooting death of Babbitt on January 6.
The “Overview and Recommendation” section reads as follows:
This memorandum recommends that the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia decline for criminal prosecution the fatal shooting of Ashli McEntee.
***
This declination is based on a review of law enforcement and civilian eyewitness accounts, physical evidence, recorded radio communications, cell phone footage, MPD reports, forensic reports, and the autopsy report for Ms. McEntee. After a thorough review of the facts and circumstances in this case, there is insufficient evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Lieutenant Byrd violated Ms. McEntee’s civil rights by willfully using more force than was reasonably necessary, or was not acting in self-defense or the defense of others.
The memo details:
Once the demonstrators broke the glass, Lieutenant Byrd took up a tactical position to the immediate right of the barricaded entry doors, [Capitol Police Officer Reggie Tyson] took up a tactical position behind Lieutenant Byrd on the right side behind the third pillar and Sergeant McKenna took up a tactical position behind Officer Tyson and behind the fourth pillar on the right side of the Speakers Lobby.
***
All three officers had their service pistols drawn, pointed them in the direction of the barricaded entry doors, and repeatedly instructed the ‘mob’ to get back. The ‘mob’ of demonstrators ignored the officers’ commands and continued to break the glass on the doors in their attempt to breach the Speakers Lobby. Suddenly, Ashli McEntee began to crawl through one of the doors where the glass was already broken out. As Ms. McEntee was climbing through the door, Lieutenant Byrd stepped forward from his tactical position towards Ms. McEntee and fired one round from his service pistol striking Ms. McEntee in her left shoulder, just below her clavicle. Ms. McEntee then fell back from the doorway and onto the floor.
Regarding possible closed-circuit television footage the memo notes “There are several USCP operated Closed-Circuit Television Video (CCTV) cameras inside of the United States Capitol Building. However, there were no CCTV cameras observed or located in the Speaker's Lobby area.”
In a section of the memo titled “USCP Lieutenant Michael Byrd,” the memo notes: “He [Byrd] did not create any police reports or documents relating to the incident, and did not provide an official statement regarding use of force” though he did provide a voluntary “debrief” and walk-through of the scene with his lawyer. A footnote details that: “During the debrief of Lieutenant Byrd, he did recall writing a few sentences on an evidence bag the evening of January 6, 2021, at the request of a crime scene officer. To date, the bag has not been located by USCP or MPD.”
The memo reports:
Lieutenant Byrd heard glass breaking and saw some of the items used to barricade the doors being pushed down. Lieutenant Byrd continued to tell the rioters to "get back, get back!"
Lieutenant Byrd then saw a rioter with a backpack on start to climb through one of the broken glass doors. Lieutenant Byrd saw the rioter "as a threat," so he stepped forward from his tactical position and fired one round at the rioter. The rioter fell back out of the opening and Lieutenant
Byrd eventually stepped back into the seated area of the Speaker's Lobby before confirming to other USCP officers that arrived on the scene that he was the one that fired his service weapon.
The memo notes that security staffing on January 6 was less than half the usual amount due to Covid-19:
Lieutenant Byrd did agree to participate with this counsel, Mark Schamel, in a voluntary debrief and walk-through of the scene on January 29, 2021 … Due to Covid-19 and other issues, the normal staffing for a joint session was less than half of what Lieutenant Byrd usually has assigned to the House Chamber. Once he arrived that morning, he was informed that USCP operations had made the decision that the uniform officers needed to pick up riot gear.
In a section titled, “Use of Force History,” it is noted that, “Lieutenant Byrd had one prior use of force matter, that was originally sustained by USCP, but after Lt. Byrd appealed, he was found not guilty by the Disciplinary Review Board.”
In a section titled “Recommendation,” the memo details:
This matter does not constitute a prosecutable violation of the federal criminal civil rights statutes or the District of Columbia homicide statutes. To show a violation of 18 U.S.C. § 242, the applicable federal criminal civil rights statute, the Government must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that an officer willfully used more force than was reasonably necessary under the circumstances. ‘The “reasonableness” of a particular use of force must be judged from the perspective of a reasonable officer on the scene, rather than with the 20/20 vision of hindsight.’ Graham v Connor, 490 U.S. 386, 396 (1989).
***
Because Ms. McEntee was an active participant in a ‘mob’ that had just illegally entered the Capitol building, and then broke out the glass doors and removed barricades to forcefully gain entry into the Speaker’s Lobby, there is insufficient evidence to refute Lieutenant Byrd’s fear for his life or the life of others at the time he discharged his weapon. Therefore, there is insufficient evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he willfully deprived Ms. McEntee of a right protected by the Constitution or laws of the United States of America. Accordingly I recommend declination of this matter.
The records include a draft version of the April 14, 2021, Justice Department press release announcing their decision not to prosecute Byrd for the killing of Babbitt, the authors replaced the word “crowd” with the word “mob” five times in describing the January 6 protestors.
The documents also include charts of January 6 investigations and targets. For one of the investigations, it is noted that a New York Times reporter is a “CW” [confidential witness]. Another notation tied to “pipe bombs” notes that a “geo fence” request was made to Google.
Judicial Watch previously uncovered records from the DC Metropolitan Police showed that multiple officers claimed they didn’t see a weapon in Babbitt’s hand before Byrd shot her, and that Byrd was visibly distraught afterward. One officer attested that he didn’t recall hearing any verbal commands before Byrd shot Babbitt. The records include internal communications about Byrd’s case and a crime scene examination report. Investigators who wrote the January 6, 2021, Metro PD Death Report for Babbitt (identified as Ashli Elizabeth McEntee-Babbitt Pamatian) note that the possible Manner of Death was “Homicide (Police Involved Shooting).”
Byrd was following his orders: Kill a white Trump supporter, so their media jackals could call it a deadly insurrection.
Of course they did.
At minimum, he could fire a warning shot.
Law suit coming anyway....as it should.
A person of ordinary intelligence and temperament would be haunted by the actions they took that day, having shot an unarmed protestor from cover without warning. But I doubt Byrd thinks much about it.
This is called “CYA”. By granting immunity from prosecution to Michael Byrd, the policy of affirmative action in the Capitol Police is protected into perpetuity.
Michael Byrd should have bee dismissed from the Capitol Police long ago, for repeated dereliction of duty.
This is right up there with “prosecutorial discretion”.
Down the memory hole.
Depending solely on which party does it.
Completely pointless to do in a beltway courtroom. So hopefully they bring it in a district where Justice is still blind
imagine if she was black and he was white..........he’d be in jail for life
Byrd joins that elite group which includes himself and Lon Horiuchi.
Completely pointless to do in a beltway courtroom. So hopefully they bring it in a district where Justice is still blind
As Durham found out.....the swamps tentacles run wide in DC.
Fortunately there is no statute of limitations on murder. So after Trump gets re-elected for the 2nd time in 2024 and after the DOJ gets an anal probe and absolutely everybody in its senior ranks gets unceremoniously fired, Michael Byrd can be cuffed, perp walked and thrown into solitary confinement.
The problem is DC. It is simply impossible to get a fair trial in DC. So the venue needs to be changed. The problem there is the judges in the DC circuit are every bit as biased as DC juries.
At the very least, the Trump supporters who have been made political prisoners and their families should be told to file a class action lawsuit against the federal government. Then the new DOJ under Trump can immediately admit its guilt and give them a generous cash settlement. That, there’s nothing the DC Judiciary can do to stop.
The documents note that the shooter, U.S. Capitol Police Lt. Michael Byrd, “did not create a police report or documents” related to the shooting of Babbitt.
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I’ll bet it is a requirement for the Capital cops to file a report for every discharge of a weapon, yet somehow, no report is just fine, even though the shot killed an unarmed woman.
Law suit coming anyway....as it should.
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if it’s a rat-infested D.C. jury, there will be no justice.
This is proof democrats and black people can get away with murder in this racist society.
Ashli McEntee Babbitt was the only one murdered that day. A few protestors died from heart attacks during the protest which isn’t unusual when you get 100’s of thousands of people together anywhere, especially when a lot of them are old.
And no police died because of the protest, and anyone who says so is lying.
And the only shots fired by the supposed “insurrectionists” were the ones that murdered an unarmed protestor (Ashli McEntee Babbitt)
There is no statute of limitations on murder. Once we retake power, we can prosecute the murderer then.
In a section titled “Recommendation,” the memo details:
Next time shoot them all, no exceptions, no quarter, no mercy.
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