Jamiel Shaw Update-May 5, 2008
Jamiel Shaw Update- May 5, 2008
Today, Jamiel Shaw Sr spoke on the John and Ken radio show on KFI (Los Angeles)on the pending prosecution of Pedro Espinoza for the murder of Jamiel Shaw Jr. Mr Shaw is due to meet with LA DA Steve Cooley tomorrow and is demanding that the asst. DA assigned to the case (Michelle Hennessey) be taken off.
According to Mr Shaw, the prosecutor has been spending the last couple of months investigating young Jamiel-the victim! The reason is, according to Mr Shaw, that the prosecutor is trying to show that the victim was a member of a gang-or at least, the killer thought that was the case since Jamiel had a Spiderman backpack that was partially red, a gang color. That would enable the prosecutor to argue that the killing was gang-motivated rather than a hate crime committed simply because Jamiel was black. (Jamiel Shaw had no gang affiliation. He was simply an innocent random victim.)
Mr Shaw also states that the prosecutor has tried to pressure him to drop his efforts to have Special Rule 40 amended to allow police to act against known illegal alien gang members.
To be fair, I am presenting Mr Shaw’s statements without the benefit of the DA’s side of this story. It is Mr Shaw’s feeling that the city wants to downplay any suggestion that blacks are being targetted by Latino gang members based simply on the race. I think it is vital, however, for the DA’s office to speak out and clarify this matter.
gary fouse
fousesquawk
