SCLC Gives Gwinnett Deadline In Taser Case

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

POSTED: 5:41 p.m. EDT June 19, 2005

ATLANTA -- The civil rights group that Martin Luther King Jr. co-founded has threatened to launch protests unless Gwinnett County's prosecutor reopens the probe of a jailed black man who died days after he repeatedly was stunned with a Taser.

Southern Christian Leadership Conference president Charles Steele set Sunday as the deadline for Gwinnett County District Attorney Danny Porter to determine whether to revisit the case of Frederick Williams, who died in May 2004 after deputies stunned him with a Taser gun five times within a minute while in jail.

"We want him to reopen the case with all the evidence being made available," Steele said. "I'm personally asking him to just present the facts to the grand jury."

Porter said Friday the SCLC should receive a letter with his decision by Monday. Porter declined on Sunday to reveal what the letter said.

more: http://www.wsbtv.com/news/4627526/detail.html

[struggle4progress]

1. No review of Taser fatality

Gwinnett D.A.'s decision angers rights activists

By LATEEF MUNGIN
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 06/21/05

Seeking to end a three-month controversy sparked by the release of a graphic videotape showing a restrained prisoner being shocked repeatedly with a Taser stun gun, Gwinnett County's district attorney said Monday he considered the case closed.

District Attorney Danny Porter said he had seen no evidence that deputies "intended to kill or criminally assault" Frederick Williams, 31, who died two days after the violent altercation at the Gwinnett County Jail. Porter declined to ask a second grand jury to consider criminal charges in the case.

Angered at Porter's decision, a Southern Christian Leadership Conference leader threatened a national protest march and an economic boycott.

Since Williams' death a year ago, civil rights groups have organized two protest marches at the Gwinnett County courthouse. And a lawyer for Williams' family has appealed to federal authorities to investigate the death. <snip>

http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/gwinnett/0605/21a1taser.html

This really was a lynching by a group of angry deputies ...