DOJ: "Insufficient evidence" to pursue federal civil rights charges in Dontre Hamilton case

MILWAUKEE -- The Justice Department announced on Tuesday, November 10th that there is insufficient evidence to pursue federal criminal civil rights charges against former Milwaukee Police Officer Christopher Manney for the death of Dontre Hamilton at Milwaukee's Red Arrow Park on April 30, 2014.

Officials from the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Eastern District of Wisconsin, the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division and the FBI met with Hamilton’s family and their representatives on Tuesday morning to inform them of this decision.

Federal authorities say they conducted a comprehensive and independent review of the evidence collected related to the death of Hamilton, who was shot during a struggle with Manney. This included reviewing all information from the state investigation, reviewing all recorded interviews, consulting with the Milwaukee County medical examiner and reviewing the transcripts from Manney’s termination hearing by the Milwaukee Fire and Police Commission.

The team of federal prosecutors and FBI agents considered whether Manney violated federal law by willfully using unreasonable force against Hamilton. Under the applicable federal criminal civil rights statute, prosecutors must establish, beyond a reasonable doubt, that a law enforcement officer willfully deprived an individual of a Constitutional right.

In this case, officials say there were numerous civilian witnesses who saw some part of the physical confrontation between Manney and Hamilton. Based on those eyewitness accounts, the account of the former officer involved, the physical evidence and the assessments of independent use of force experts, the team of experienced federal prosecutors and FBI agents determined that the evidence was insufficient to prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, that Manney acted willfully with a bad purpose to violate the law. Accordingly, the federal review of this incident has been closed without prosecution. This decision is limited strictly to an application of the high legal standard required to prosecute the case under the federal civil rights statute; it does not reflect an assessment of any other aspect of the incident that led to Hamilton’s death.

READ IT: Complete statement from the Justice Department on decision in the Dontre Hamilton case.

This case began on April 30th, 2014, when Dontre Hamilton was sleeping in Red Arrow Park in downtown Milwaukee. After Christopher Manney woke him, there was a scuffle, and in the end, Manney would shot and kill 31-year-old Hamilton.

Milwaukee Police Chief Ed Flynn fired Manney for policy violations in patting down Hamilton prior to the scuffle that resulted in the fatal shooting.

After Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm decided Christopher Manney would not be criminally charged after shooting and killing Dontre Hamilton -- a Fire and Police Commission panel decided to uphold Manney’s firing from MPD, and ruled that his use of force in this case violated policy.

Manney has appealed the FPC panel's decision.

The DOJ's decision announced Tuesday was one the Hamilton family was not pleased to hear.

"It's been a year-and-a-half since Dontre was gunned down violently 14 times in a downtown park in broad daylight with office buildings all around and there's been no accountability," Jonathan Safran, attorney for the Hamilton family said.

The next step for the family is a federal civil rights lawsuit against Manney and the city of Milwaukee.

"The last resort  is a civil rights lawsuit that will be filed in federal court which we are prepared to pursue," Safran said.

Flynn has written a letter to federal officials inviting them to collaborate with the Milwaukee Police Department, review its procedures and offer input.

"We think we're doing things the right way or going in the right direction. We understand and recognize we can probably improve and we also recognize there is some citizen concern about our state of practice, come in and evaluate what we're doing," Chief Flynn said. "This police department has demonstrated I think pretty consistently over the last year and a half that we're good at policing these events."

Mayor Tom Barrett is supportive of his chief's decision to seek an outside review.

"This is done with full transparency. We are hoping that we will be able to gain insights from other communities, other police departments," Barrett said.

There's no timetable at this point as to when the federal lawsuit will be filed on behalf of the Hamilton family, or when federal officials would respond to Flynn's request for an external review of his department.

The following is a statement issued by Jonathan Safran, the attorney for the Hamilton family:

Rep. Gwen Moore issued this statement in response to the DOJ's decision:

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