Mistrial in Memphis: Lone juror won’t convict police officer in case of brutality against transgender woman [video]
Five witnesses testified the attack was unprovoked. Enough to convince all but one juror McRae was guilty of violating Johnson’s civil rights. “Talking about taking handcuffs and putting them around his knuckles,” says [Will Batts with the Memphis Gay and Lesbian Center]. “That to me seems like a conscious act. That’s not an act of passion of the moment.”
Part of an article from ABC 24 in Memphis, TN, detailing the case of Duanna Johnson, a transgender woman, who was beaten, berated, and pepper sprayed in the face by a police officer, Bridges McRae, in 2008 after she was arrested on suspicion of prostitution. The incident, which took place inside the police station, was caught on video. McRae was fired as a result of that incident despite claiming self defense against Johnson who was handcuffed during the incident. Tragically, Johnson was found shot to death just months later. (ABC 24)
”She was mysteriously killed days before that was supposed to go to trial. I personally think there’s a reason a killer hasn’t been found.”
“Eager,” a friend of the late Duanna Johnson, who appears to be suspicious of the fact that Johnson’s murder remains unsolved. (ABC 24)
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