After traffic stop shooting in Cedar Rapids, growing chorus for change

UPDATE: Due to pending inclement weather, the Iowa Justice Alliance has rescheduled its demonstration meeting to 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 5, at Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church, 6621 C Ave NE, Cedar Rapids.

By Michaela Ramm, The Gazette

CEDAR RAPIDS - Three shots fired in the early Nov. 1 darkness left a black motorist paralyzed, a white police officer cleared of criminal wrongdoing and lingering questions not only over how the case was handled but how any similar shooting in the future should be investigated and prosecuted.

The traffic stop shooting of Jerime Mitchell, 38, and the subsequent grand jury clearing of Cedar Rapids Officer Lucas Jones has emerged as the impetus for a social justice movement dubbing itself the Iowa Justice Alliance. Its participants are determined to force changes in the way officer-involved shootings here are handled in the future - from bringing in an independent prosecutor, to ensuring key witness statements are gathered, to perhaps empaneling a civilian board to review police.

The alliance still is finalizing the list of policy and practice changes it wants to see at the Cedar Rapids Police Department and the Linn County Attorney's Office. But organizers hope to jump-start the consideration with a demonstration at 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 5 at the Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church.

'This movement, hopefully, will be a catalyst that will facilitate meaningful conversations,” said Stacey Walker, a member of the movement who last fall became the first African-American elected to the Linn County Board of Supervisors.

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Authorities describe Mitchell as a foul-mouth aggressor with a pound of pot in his truck who assaulted a policeman pulling him over for a burned-out bulb. Mitchell, they said, put the officer's life in jeopardy while trying to escape.

Mitchell and his supporters offer a stark contrast - a mild-mannered man attacked by an officer and his police dog for no good reason. Mitchell tried to flee, he said in a statement to the media, for his own safety as the officer kept piling on.

Officer Jones fired three times, one bullet hitting Mitchell in the neck and spine.

'Dealing marijuana is not an offense punishable by death,” said Dedric Doolin, the Cedar Rapids NAACP chapter president.

The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation reviewed the case, but has refused to provide its records to The Gazette.

In an unusual move, Linn County Attorney Jerry Vander Sanden called a grand jury to hear the case. After a day of consideration in early December, the panel chose not to charge Jones with any crime.

Jones was interviewed by the DCI, but neither the DCI nor the grand jury obtained testimony from Mitchell - although his attorney maintained he offered.

Authorities said they found the marijuana, scales and about $1,500 in cash in Mitchell's truck, but Vander Sanden said no charges will be filed against him.

A review of Mitchell's record by The Gazette shows he had been accused of drug-related crimes in Cedar, Linn and Johnson counties in the past. Most recently, in 2007, records show he pleaded guilty in Linn County to a charge of possession with the intent to deliver a controlled substance, a Class D felony, and was put on two years of probation.

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So far, Walker has released only two items from the list of policy and practice changes the alliance wants enacted:

' Requiring county attorneys to request a special prosecutor when presenting a case of an officer-involved shooting to a grand jury.

' For county attorneys or special prosecutors to solicit sworn statements from all primary parties in an officer-involved shooting case. Ideally, according to the alliance, a prosecutor would gather such statements before a case is presented and offer them as evidence.

According to Walker, Rep. Liz Bennett, D-Cedar Rapids, plans to announce her intention to seek legislation if necessary.

The list of potential demands initially was discussed Dec. 17 when about 25 people gathered in the First Presbyterian Church in Iowa City.

The majority of those gathered were white men and women. People at the meeting, hosted by the Rev. Sam Massey, represented a variety of activist groups that included Psychologists for Black Lives, Iowa City Showing Up for Racial Justice and the Coalition for Racial Justice.

'I don't think the way this case was presented builds relationships with the community,” Doolin said in an interview. 'I think it does the contrary. It makes people think, ‘How can we trust the police department, how can we trust the county attorney?'”

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The two items released so far both address the Linn County Attorney.

Though Walker on Nov. 30 called for Vander Sanden to step aside for a special prosecutor, the county attorney did not.

Vander Sanden presented evidence to the five-member grand jury that decided not to pursue charges.

In an interview last week, Vander Sanden said it's at the discretion of a county attorney to appoint a special prosecutor in a grand jury case. But there has to be a conflict of interest for a county attorney to recuse himself.

According to the law, if a conflict does exists, then a county attorney or an attorney general could ask the chief judge to appoint a special prosecutor in the proceeding.

Under existing state law, Vander Sanden said 'a county attorney is the only official allowed to convene a grand jury.”

In announcing Dec. 6 that the grand jury he convened chose not to pursue charges, Vander Sanden said the DCI attempted a 'multitude of contacts” with Mitchell to no avail. He said Mitchell had 'numerous” chances to give a statement but didn't.

Paula Roby, an attorney representing Mitchell, said she was blindsided to learn the grand jury had already met. She said her client was scheduled to give testimony on Dec. 13 - about a week after the grand jury had ruled.

'The NAACP very strongly contends that the process is not as unbiased as it has been led to believe,” said Betty Andrews, president of the Iowa-Nebraska NAACP area conference.

In this case, Jones' microphone wasn't working during the encounter with Mitchell. Without Mitchell's account, only Jones' statement describing the conversation leading up to the shooting was available.

Still, Vander Sanden said squad car dashboard camera images that captured the shooting scene were decisive - although some NAACP members disagreed.

'The system has to look at the facts,” Doolin said. 'If you don't get all of the information and try to make decision based on limited information, you're out to make the wrong decision.”

Vander Sanden said it's not as easy as it sounds to obtain a statement from the alleged victim of an officer-involved shooting.

Many times, he said, 'the person is advised by their attorney not to testify because a lot of time they are involved in criminal activity.”

In this case, he cited as an example that Mitchell could have faced felony drug charges and forfeiture of his pickup.

'He could have even faced an enhancement because of his prior record,” the attorney said.

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People who attended the Dec. 17 meeting also discussed changes they might want to see at the Cedar Rapids Police Department, including the possibility of citizen review boards and mandatory reprimands for officers whose audio equipment is inoperable.

None of those items have yet been finalized.

Current policies and procedures are based on the latest professional standards, training and laws, said Cedar Rapids public safety spokesman Greg Buelow.

Chief Wayne Jerman has emphasized he and his department are willing to listen to concerns about policing practices.

'This incident mirrors the national concerns of police-involved shootings of minorities,” Jerman said. 'It's certainly something I've had discussions with previously with my colleagues. It's something we all in the profession are absolutely concerned about. We're doing what we can to strengthen that pillar of trust.”

Jerman said the department recently has been working to receive the blessing of the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, an optional accreditation program that aims to improve departments' public service by maintaining a body of standards and increasing community confidence.

'There's a lot of things to be learned,” Rev. Massey said. 'I admire their attempts to listen and understand. I do worry because we have so little minority presence in police departments. I worry about that voice being lost.”

While Jones was cleared of charges. he remains on paid administrative leave while the department reviews how its policies and procedures were followed, Buelow said.

Jones also was involved in a fatal shooting in October 2015 when, authorities said, a suspect in a drug investigation pointed a gun at officers while trying to flee.

Following a DCI investigation, Vander Sanden ruled in that case deadly force was justified.

Despite a request, the city did not make Jones available for an interview with The Gazette.

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Those planning the upcoming demonstration originally planned to hold it today - Sunday, Jan. 15 - the day before the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday. The meeting was rescheduled due to the weather forecast; the National Weather Service has issued a winter weather advisory for late today into Monday with snow, sleet, rain and ice expected.

Originally selecting a date for the demonstration near the holiday honoring King was no coincidence.

'If nothing else, it's happening a day before this country takes time to recognize the contributions of Martin Luther King and the civil rights movement, where the country had to adjust to some very divisive issues,” Walker said. 'Here in Linn County, we are dealing will similarly large problems and controversial issues. That is a slow march toward progress.”

But the Iowa Justice Alliance believes that race is not the key aspect of the conversation.

'It just so happens the man was black, the officer was white. It would be a disservice to the administration of justice if we allow race to take over this issue,” said Jason Robinson, a 32-year-old Cedar Rapids business owner and member of the movement,

Said Walker: 'The community as a whole needs to recognize, in the words of Martin Luther King, ‘injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.' We have to be comfortable identifying injustice and calling it out.”

Comments: (319) 368-8536; michaela.ramm@thegazette.com

Trish Mehaffey of The Gazette contributed to this report.