In April 2018, Jeffery Parker, a mentally distraught man in Huntsville AL, called 911. He told the dispatcher he planned to shoot himself. The police were sent to Parker’s home. Two officers arrived on the scene. One of them, Genisha Pegues, found Parker sitting on the sofa with a gun to his head. She later testified that she was de-escalating the situation.
But then Officer William ‘Ben’ Darby showed up. He entered Parker’s home and shouted at Pegues, a senior officer, to point her gun at Parker. Eleven seconds later he shot Parker dead. He justified the killing by saying he felt his life was in danger. The DA saw it differently and charged him with murder After a trial and six hours of deliberation, a jury concurred and convicted Darby of murder on May 7th this year.
And for that, the criminal justice system in Alabama is to be commended (Something I never expected to say).
However, Darby is still on the payroll. How is this possible? A news release by the city ‘explains’ — although only a lawyer could possibly think the explanation makes sense.
Since the killing Darby had been on paid leave. On May 11th, 4 days after the guilty verdict, Police Chief Mark McMurray asked for a disciplinary hearing to be set for Darby “concerning his future employment”. WTF? They couldn’t just fire him? Apparently not.
It gets worse. The news release goes on to say that Darby is no longer on paid leave. “So what?”, you may ask. It makes a huge and jaw-dropping difference. Let the news release elucidate:
“However, Mr. Darby is no longer on paid administrative leave. He is now on accrued leave with pay, having availed himself to certain rights under federal law. As a result, his formal hearing has been postponed and will be promptly rescheduled to a later date following a change in his leave status.”
If you work in a bank and put your hand in the till you will be fired on the spot. If you punch your boss in the face, you will be terminated forthwith. Hell, at Amazon, if you ask for a bathroom break, you’ll soon be looking at the want ads. But in Huntsville, Alabama, a cop can murder someone on duty, and still get paid. And I’m sure the situation is not unique to Huntsville. After all, it is a federal law that the city cites.
There are two other thorns in the side of reason. First, the city has already ponied up $89,132 to defend the murderer. And there is an authorization for a further $35,000. That’s quite a benefit as Alabama puts an absolute no-exceptions cap on public expenditure for a murder defendant at $4,000.
Second, despite a murder conviction, Darby is free on a $100,000 bond — despite facing a sentence of 20 years to life. How many ‘regular’ (read poor or Black) Alabamians are extended that courtesy?
Nevertheless, at least one uniformed murderer will soon be off the street. Or is there more absurdity to come?