Exclusive: Conservative legal watchdog group files brief in Kentucky court asking judge not to approve consent decree forged by Attorney General Merrick Garland and the City of Louisville and Jefferson County, Kentucky is scheduled to be submitted. Breonna Taylor’s controversial death in 2020.
The Oversight Project will place its court brief on the docket Friday morning in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky as the judge prepares a timeline for issuing a ruling on triggering the agreement.
Oversight Project Executive Director Mike Howell said the consent decree includes “a laundry list of BLM-type standards that have been discussed for many years since George Floyd.”[‘s death in 2020]” and the riot that followed.
“Louisville will become a sanctuary for gangsters,” Howell warned, adding that he hopes Friday’s addition to the docket will give the court pause before agreeing to move up the approval deadline. .
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Taylor died in a hail of police gunfire after Louisville police officers tried to serve a drug warrant at the home of her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker. Her boyfriend then fired a “warning shot” through the door, hitting police officer Jonathan Mattingly in the leg.
A barrage of counterfire then fatally injured Taylor, and five police officers were later sued, including one convicted of deprivation of law for firing blindly through a window during the chaos. received.
Walker later claimed that he mistook the police for intruders and did not listen to their announcements. The city of Louisville will pay Taylor’s family $12 million in a wrongful death settlement.
Last week, Garland announced a consent decree with the city of Louisville that he said would bring needed reforms to the police department to prevent a repeat of what happened to Taylor.
But Howell said the ordinance would only cripple police and go against the will of Kentucky voters who elected new Republicans to the Louisville City Council on law and order issues.
”[The decree] Essentially, it limits the ability of police officers to react quickly and forcefully. “De-escalation techniques are very important, especially when it comes to this category of people that they call ‘behavioral disordered’ or something related,” Howell said.
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Howell said he is concerned about the rapidly increasing rate of homicides among teens, which are violent acts committed by suspects between the ages of 11 and 17, and that the ordinance would not only limit stop-and-frisk, but also increase youth crime. It wrongly imposes new standards on how people should be treated, he said.
One of the most obvious problems with this agreement is the fact that if the judge signs the ruling, Louisville City Council members, Kentucky state legislators, and the public will be blocked from making further adjustments to police policy for five years. .
Under a consent decree system, an official monitor appointed by a judge, rather than the relevant legislature, becomes the arbiter of the policy applicable to the agreement, unless both parties to the agreement agree to a change.
In this regard, Howell said the Biden Justice Department and Democratic Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg appear to be rushing the legal process to avoid any possible hesitation by the Trump Justice Department to agree to a deal.
“The most fundamental responsibility of government is to protect the public’s safety while protecting constitutional rights and treating all people fairly,” Greenberg said in a statement about the executive order. “As mayor, I promised to uphold that responsibility, and I have done so.”
“The Department of Justice recognized the actions we have already taken and our commitment to aggressively implement police reform. As a result of these improvements, we have an agreement that sets us apart from other cities in America.” We were able to obtain a verdict.”
Greenberg said any ordinance must build on recent reforms, cannot “handcuff police in their efforts to prevent crime,” must also be fiscally responsible, and must have a clear date. He said that the date of his death is fixed.
Louisville Police Chief Paul Humphrey said, “Police officers have clear guidelines and goals to accomplish, the Department of Justice cannot move the goalposts, and police officers are committed to proper police work, not red tape.” I was able to sign the contract with peace of mind because I was able to focus on my work.”
The Oversight Project’s court brief is supported by law enforcement advocacy leaders like Jason Johnson, president of the Law Enforcement Defense Fund.
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Johnson’s group, which promotes constitutional policing and is researching similar consent decrees, told Fox News Digital that the Biden Justice Department has no plans for such an agreement when President-elect Donald Trump takes the Oval Office. He said it was clear that he was aware that it would be “DOA.”
“Most of these police consent statutes are more like activist wish lists than effective tools to correct constitutional violations by police agencies,” Johnson wrote. “They are trying to impose burdensome rules that go far beyond that.”
He suggested that technical assistance letters, which aim to promote reform without imposing judicial arbitrators, are generally preferred in most cases.
“However, the Biden administration’s activist lawyers prefer to use sledgehammers instead of scalpels. This approach has proven time and time again to be counterproductive, and has been shown to harm public safety and police morale more than it helps.” , which would be detrimental to police-community relations.”
Meanwhile, Howell said he hopes Kentucky judges will understand that Greenberg and Garland are “trying to turn themselves into Congress” when it comes to law enforcement practices.
Under the consent decree system, Trump’s more hawkish Justice Department would have no access to policy changes for up to five years, rendering any anticipated actions by the new administration in Louisville’s law enforcement field moot.
He said criminals are likely to support the legislation because they will use the new encyclopedia of police standards to their advantage.
Charles Creitz is a reporter for Fox News Digital.
He joined Fox News in 2013 as a writer and production assistant.
Charles covers media, politics and culture for Fox News Digital.
Charles is a Pennsylvania native and graduate of Temple University with a bachelor’s degree in broadcast journalism. Story tips can be sent to charles.creitz@fox.com.
