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The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 07/21/08
On the heels of last week's murder indictment of a former police officer who shot and killed a fleeing suspect, DeKalb County prosecutors are also taking a new look at other shootings by officers, including the 2003 slaying of a suspect on his mother's front steps.
Loretta Luke said Monday that agents of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation recently staged a nighttime re-enactment of the shooting of her son, Stanley Bates, by then-officer Alexander Brown at her home off Candler Road south of Decatur.
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Bates, 35, was shot just outside Luke's front door Feb. 2, 2003. He was holding a knife, but a police review board concluded he was too far away from Brown and a second officer to justify the shooting. Brown was fired, but the firing was rescinded in a deal in which he resigned.
The office of then-District Attorney J. Tom Morgan declined to prosecute Brown.
Luke said a GBI representative told her about three weeks ago that agents needed to interview Brown and one other witness and then would turn over their findings to DeKalb District Attorney Gwen Keyes Fleming.
Keyes Fleming last week announced a grand jury indictment of former officer Torrey Thompson for the slaying of 21-year-old Lorenzo Matthews on Sept. 12, 2006. Thompson faces a felony murder charge and possible life sentence.
A police review board found Matthews was unarmed and not a threat to Thompson. Thompson's lawyer said last week the officer reasonably believed the suspect, fleeing an armed robbery scene, was turning to fire at him.
Thompson was the only DeKalb officer targeted for prosecution by a special grand jury which reviewed the department's shootings of suspects, including 12 fatalities, in 2006.
Chief Assistant District Attorney Don Geary said Monday that prosecutors now are working to present to grand juries all the other officer-involved shootings which took place after Keyes Fleming took office in 2005.
Asked about the Bates case, he said the review also includes a few cases from previous years.
Geary said grand jurors will be asked to determine whether they believe a shooting was justified. If a shooting is deemed unjustified, a separate decision could be made on whether an officer should be prosecuted.
Luke said she still hopes Brown will be prosecuted. Seven or eight GBI employees marked off locations around her house and took measurements about six weeks ago, she said.
"They did a pretty thorough job it looked like to me, and I was pleased," she said.
Luke won a civil judgment of $7 million against Brown last year when the former officer failed to appear in court to oppose her wrongful death lawsuit. His contact information was not available Monday.
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