I’m just about too angry to type.
For those unfamiliar with the case (most of you, which is not your fault), Andrew Delke was a rookie police officer for the MNPD in 2018 when he chased down and killed 25 year-old Daniel Hambrick, a young black man. There are many factors to this case. Hambrick had a record and was running from the police...but Delke had no reason to suspect him of a crime as he did not know who he was. He saw him, he followed him, he ran the plates, nothing there, car wasn’t stolen, but he kept following him hoping to spot something that would justify pulling him over. He never did. He saw a young black man driving a car and turned on his lights. The car sped off, and Delke lost him. He then saw a group of black men near a vehicle similar to the one he tried to pull over and approached them. When one of them ran off, he chased him, and when he refused to stop, he fired four times, hitting him in the back twice and the head once, killing him.
He was fired, arrested, and charged with first degree murder. So far, so good.
Delke had a good defense going for him. He had a retired district attorney willing to testify on his behalf, which was unprecedented. He was only the second MNPD officer to be charged for the on-duty killing of a suspect, and the first charged with murder. His defense claimed there was video showing that Hambrick had a gun and was threatening the officer. Again, he had a record, and he ran, twice. And he had a gun.
Four days ago, the judge ruled that the prosecution was allowed to admit their own video footage.
Apparently, this footage was going to wipe clean all of the defense’s claims. Hambrick had a gun on his person when he was shot. The defense claimed it was drawn and aimed. There is no evidence on any of the video footage that this was the case, so the defense attorney sought to exclude all video evidence (so their lie would stand up in court).
Today, Delke accepted a very favorable deal, pleading guilty to intentional manslaughter and accepting a sentence of three years in prison.
So...why on earth would a DA accept such a deal? How can a grand jury bring an indictment of 1st degree murder, only to let a team of attorneys accept a manslaughter plea?
We would all like to know.
Here is a part of Hambrick’s mother’s statement that was read today. His family erupted in anger and cleared the courtroom before the entire statement could be read. I understand.
“I am against this so-called plea deal. I am against the way the state and the defense join hands to protect this racist biased anti-black criminal system. My son was murdered on video by Nashville police. My son has a right, he has a right to a public jury trial. I want citizens of this community to render a judgment. I don’t want a back room where the current DA, the former DA, and their ex co-worker David Raybin emerge from some country golf club course and tell me that my son’s life was worth three years and that I’m lucky to get that. We all know that if Daniel had executed Delke by shooting him in the back of his head and in his back and in his buttocks as he ran away, he would be riding on death row waiting on the electric chair.”
She makes so many good points.
Daniel deserves a trial by jury, not a backroom deal. This is why black lives matter.