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High court blocks special grand jury in West Memphis child shooting Friday, Feb 8, 2008 By Rob Moritz Arkansas News Bureau LITTLE ROCK - A Crittenden County circuit judge lacked the authority to impanel a special grand jury to investigate the shooting death of a black West Memphis boy at the hands of a white police officer, the state Supreme Court ruled Thursday. In a unanimous decision, the high court said Circuit Judge Victor Hill overstepped his bounds because another circuit judge within the same jurisdiction had already appointed special prosecutors to investigate the death of 12-year-old DeAuntae Farrow last year. Special prosecutors assigned by Circuit Judge David Burnett of Osceola argued Hill's action was in appropriate because they were still investigating the case. Under its "superintending control," the high court "cannot allow co-ordinate divisions of a single circuit to compete for control of processes investigating possible criminal acts," Chief Justice Jim Hannah wrote. In a concurring opinion, Justice Donald Corbin said the issue could have been resolved if Hill had withdrawn his special grand jury request once he learned special prosecutors were still investigating. "While I agree with Judge Hill that judges, such as himself, who travel throughout the circuit have the jurisdiction to hear all types of matters, we simply cannot have judges competing over the same case; otherwise, chaos would reign," Corbin wrote. DeAuntae was fatally shot on June 22 by then-Officer Erik Sammis during a police stakeout of the West Memphis apartment building where the boy was playing with friends. Sammis told investigators the boy had a toy pistol, though his family and some witnesses maintain DeAuntae had only a bag of chips and a drink. The case has stirred racial tensions in West Memphis, about 127 miles east of Little Rock and just across the Mississippi River from Memphis, Tenn. Sammis, cleared of any wrongdoing by the U.S. Justice Department, the Arkansas State Police and the West Memphis Police Internal Affairs Bureau, resigned from the department in December. Javier Bailey, attorney for the dead boy's mother, Debra Farrow, said Thursday he accepted the Supreme Court's decision and is now focused on a civil rights lawsuit he filed in December against the West Memphis Police Department and officer who shot the boy. The lawsuit seeks $100 million in compensatory damages for the boy's estate and his mother and father, plus $25 million in punitive damages against Sammis and the police department. Bailey said he intends "to keep the special prosecutor's feet to fire on his statement that the investigation is still ongoing." During oral arguments before the Supreme Court last month, Hill said he asked for the grand jury after learning that the special prosecutors in a November news conference said they had completed their investigation. H.G. Foster of Conway, one of the special prosecutors, told the justices that they had developed new information in the case since the news conference. He said the evidence is now in the hands of state police investigators. In Thursday's opinion, Hannah said the "deeply held concerns expressed by all the parties to this matter are quite understandable given the grave tragedy involved." The chief justice said it was "imperative to both justice and to society's perception of justice that this matter be expeditiously, thoroughly and decisively handled." |
