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Experts divided on Jackson County’s decision not to charge KC cop in shooting

When Jackson County Prosecutor Melesa Johnson announced the decision not to file charges against a Kansas City police officer in a 2023 triple shooting that left two dead, she cited Missouri’s use-of-force law.

Her office would not file charges against Kansas City police Officer Blayne Newton in the 2023 triple shooting that resulted in the deaths of Marcel Nelson, 42, and Kristen Fairchild, 42. A third person, Jayden Thorns, was shot in the head but survived. Johnson said her office applied a provision in Missouri law, where a law enforcement officer’s use of force is allowed while defending others in response to the passenger firing at a vehicle.

The decision by Johnson’s office did not pursue criminal charges based on the state law is completely understandable, said Anders Walker, a law professor at Saint Louis University. “The law is fairly straightforward. Police can use lethal force if they have a reasonable fear that the suspect could cause serious injury or death,” Walker said. “I would be surprised if you could say that those were premeditated murders,” he said. “(Prosecutors) need to be confident that they have evidence beyond a reasonable doubt that the officer fired in cold blood without any legal justification.”

Newton was driving near East 31st Street and Van Brunt Boulevard when he saw a person on the driver’s side of a truck point a firearm out of the window towards a white van and drive off. Nelson, who was in the passenger seat of the van, fired twice in self-defense before the truck drove away, according to the lawsuit filed by the family against the Police Department. Dashboard camera video showed Newton, who had been behind the truck, pulled up to the passenger side of the white van, occupied by Nelson, Fairchild, Thorns and two other juveniles, and immediately opened fire. The van rolled through the intersection before coming to a stop. Newton fired 16 shots towards the van. Johnson’s office said that the decision to not charge the officer should not be considered an endorsement of the shooting or behavior, instead saying insufficient evidence would not allow for charges to proceed.

Jazzlyn Johnson, a spokesperson for the prosecutor’s office, declined to comment further, beyond those that were sent in the news release and letter released by the office that announced the decision not to file criminal charges. Close call on charging decision Attorney John Picerno called the decision not to charge Newton in the shooting a close call under the Missouri law. “It’s not as close to the call on the backseat passenger, Jayden, because I don’t think that he was authorized to shoot that rear window out,” Picerno said. Picerno represented the surviving family members in a civil lawsuit after the shooting, which resulted in a $3.5 million settlement. He has also represented another woman who was allegedly assaulted by Newton outside of a Platte County Walmart. Newton has killed three people while on duty, and has been reported for alleged use of excessive force.

Three factors played out in his mind that could’ve changed the entire night, Picerno said. Picerno said he doesn’t believe that Newton was ever in danger or that Nelson even knew he was there. The second factor Picerno mentioned was that Nelson was acting in self-defense and the third being Newton never activated his lights or sirens. “This is a weird scenario, because the passenger, Marcel Nelson, was armed and fired. We claimed self-defense,” Picerno said. “We don’t believe that the officer should have been lawfully entitled to kill Marcel, but if he does choose to shoot him, he does not have any justification for shooting into the back seat of the car. “He blew out the rear window. You’re not supposed to spray and pray, as the experts like to say, and that’s what he did,” he said. Picerno said, to the prosecutor’s credit, they’ve done everything they can to remove Newton, something cited in Johnson’s release about her decision on Wednesday. “They’re not going to file any charges in Jackson County if he’s involved in the case, because they believe that his credibility would affect the investigation of any kind of pending criminal case if he’s one of the officers that are involved,” Picerno said.

An ‘extreme’ case “It’s a very rare instance when you’ll see a prosecutor file charges against a law enforcement officer,” said Lauren Bonds, executive director for the National Police Accountability Project. The officer-involved shooting deaths of Cameron Lamb and Charles Adair stick out to her because they are so rare. Cameron Lamb was fatally shot by a former Kansas City police detective on Dec. 3, 2019 as backed his pickup into his garage. During a criminal trial, the detective, Eric DeValkenaere, said he saw a gun in Lamb’s left hand when he fired four shots toward the 26-year-old. DeValkenaere was charged and sentenced to six years in prison. Then-Republican Gov. Mike Parson later commuted DeValkenaere’s sentence.

Wyandotte County prosecutors charged deputy Richard Fatherley in the death of Charles Adair, after he knelt on his back. He is still awaiting trial. “It’s not something that you see happen very often,” Bonds said. “And so I think really, you kind of need pretty extreme facts, even if you know there’s plausibly a case that could be made before charges like this are even going to be pursued by most prosecutors.” Bonds said, based on the facts that she has seen reported on in this case, she believes that it fits that scenario of an extreme circumstance for charges to be filed. Even if it wasn’t a kind of intentional first-degree type homicide charge that was pursued, Bonds said, there’s a high degree of recklessness, at least based on how Blayne conducted himself. “It’s not terribly surprising that charges weren’t pursued, because it happens so infrequently, and you really kind of need a lot of really egregious facts to get a prosecution or to get charges,” she said. “But I would also say that this is on the more extreme end of officer-involved killings that would warrant charges.”

In a written statement released Wednesday, the Kansas City Police Department said the prosecutor’s decision was based on the office’s independent review of the facts and evidence surrounding the shooting. Newton, who joined the department in 2017, has killed three people while on duty and has faced multiple excessive force allegations, including a sustained complaint and an advisory board recommendation that he be fired. Johnson’s office said it has raised concerns with Police Department leadership about Newton’s continued employment, citing his history of use-of-force incidents. 2024 police review panel Kansas City police officials say the department’s Notable Event Review Panel, which reviews officers’ use of force and can recommend policy or training changes, made no recommendations after reviewing the June 2023 shooting.

Kansas City activists called the decision troubling at the time, with Picerno saying it was “shocking” that killing unarmed people could be justified under current policy. Internal police investigations are closed records, while the Missouri State Highway Patrol has sent its findings to the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office, which said the case remains under review. Since 2014, the panel has reviewed 69 use-of-force incidents without issuing any policy recommendations and has made nine training recommendations, the most recent in 2019. Bonds said there have been several use-of-force incidents in the Kansas City Police Department over the years that haven’t resulted in criminal charges being filed, calling the advocate’s concerns over them legitimate.

The June 9, 2023, shooting is more of an example of systemic issues within the department rather than an isolated incident, she said. “There have been advocates on the ground during the Biden administration calling for (a) Department of Justice investigation,” Bonds said. “This case is just kind of an outside example of it, but something that’s very much part of the conduct that we’re seeing from other officers in the department as well.” This story was originally published Ja