What could possibly go wrong on a court case? Legal violations, aka.

Jonathan Turley is an American attorney, conservative legal scholar, writer, commentator, and legal analyst in broadcast and print journalism. A professor at George Washington University Law School, he has testified in United States Congressional proceedings about constitutional and statutory issues.

Turley just found out the biggest legal mistake on the Babbit shooting case.

The Capitol Police officer who killed Ashli Babbit during the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection told NBC News that he shot her as a “last resort,” but ultimately he knows he “saved countless lives.”

Driving the news: Lt. Michael Byrd was cleared this week of any wrongdoing for killing Babbitt, whom he shot as she tried to make her way through a broken window into the Speaker’s Lobby, just off the House chamber floor.
An internal investigation found that Byrd followed department policy, which allows the use of deadly force only when an officer reasonably expects serious physical harm to themselves or others.

Byrd said that after the incident, he received deaths threats and experienced racist attacks when his name was leaked online, NBC News notes.

What they’re saying: “I tried to wait as long as I could,” Byrd told NBC’s, Lester Holt. “I hoped and prayed no one tried to enter through those doors. But their failure to comply required me to take the appropriate action to save the lives of members of Congress and myself and my fellow officers.”

Byrd said he yelled repeatedly to get demonstrators to step back, but his orders were not followed.

Byrd said he had no political agenda: “I do my job for Republican, for Democrat, for white, for Black, red, blue, green. I don’t care about your affiliation.”

Byrd, who was stationed outside the House chamber on Jan. 6, said he heard several reports on his radio of officers down. When he heard that rioters got inside the building, he went into the chamber and told lawmakers to hide under their chairs.

Mr. Turley posted a very interesting tweet:

A lawyer with Turley’s caliber is really sharp. I bet hard on him.

I just hope that lawyer who represents the Babitt Family was also watching and caught that because the nugget will help the family tremendously in their case against the government.

Sources: Wayne Dupree, Wikipedia, Axios, NBC News

5 Responses

  1. Bemused Berserker

    No visible weapon. No threatening statements made by the victim of intent to physically harm anyone. No record of Byrd giving warning other than his say so. What is Byrd lieutenant of? The Capitol Police Assassination Squad?
    Ashley Babbitt was murdered.

    Reply
  2. DonRS

    Might “end him”??? Well, he surely ended Ashli Babbitt! Were Babbitt BLACK and Lt. Michael Byrd WHITE, the OUTCRY WOULD BE STAGGERING (oh wait, silly me, she was a Trump supporter – so any outrage is not even a consideration!

    Reply
  3. Michael McGregor

    As a former Army MP, I have been trained in the use of lethal force – and the RULE OF THUMB was always “AS A LAST RESORT!!! If the Officer saw no weapon, he had no legal reason to shoot!

    Reply

Leave a Reply to Bemused Berserker Cancel Reply

Your email address will not be published.