JUSTICE FOR DONNELL ROCHESTER

Since Donnell’s murder, the Maryland Attorney General and Baltimore Civilian Review Board have found the officers at fault. In October 2023, the Maryland legislature granted the Attorney General sole authority to prosecute cases where police kill people. This law was passed explicitly to address the obvious conflict of interest inherent to allowing local State’s Attorney offices to investigate and prosecute the police forces that they work with and rely on day in and day out.

The AG’s office will not prosecute cases of police killings that took place before October 2023 and instead relies on kicking it back to the local State’s Attorney’s Office. This means that Donnell’s case is frozen in limbo because he was killed before the legislature addressed this obvious conflict of interest. The Maryland Attorney General’s Independent Investigative Division found probable cause for voluntary manslaughter charges to be brought against at least one of the officers involved in Donnell’s death, but the Baltimore City State’s Attorney refuses to prosecute the case. This is the conflict of interest in action, and our demand is that the Governor intervene to make it right.

The Governor has clear authority, pursuant to Article V Sec. 3(a)(2) of the Maryland Constitution to order the Maryland Attorney General to “Investigate, commence, and prosecute or defend any civil or criminal suit or action or category of such suits or actions in any of the Federal Courts or in any Court of this State.” This is what we demand he do. He’s refused to do so thus far.