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PROPOSED RESOLUTION
REQUESTING THE COOK COUNTY STATE'S ATTORNEY TO APPEAR BEFORE A HEARING OF THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE COMMITTEE TO DISCUSS THE INVESTIGATION AND INDICTMENT IN THE LAQUAN MCDONALD CASE
WHEREAS, the aftermath of officer-involved deaths of civilians such as those of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Freddy Gray in Baltimore, Eric Garner in New York, Tamir Rice in Cleveland, Walter Scott in North Charleston and the shooting death of Laquan McDonald here in Chicago, has brought to the national consciousness not only the question of what constitutes justifiable force by police officers but as importantly, the manner in which such incidents are investigated, and when warranted, prosecuted; and
WHEREAS, it is vital that there exists public confidence in all branches of the criminal justice system, including the prosecutorial arm, and that such trust fundamentally relies upon a showing of transparency and accountability by those criminal justice stakeholders; and
WHEREAS, it is essential that the Office of the Cook County State's Attorney recognizes and acknowledges the legitimate societal expectations of such stakeholders and the justifiable need for public trust in order to have the public as a willing participant in the justice system; and
WHEREAS, since shortly after the shooting of Laquan McDonald, the State's Attorney was in possession of multiple video images associated with the incident yet no charges were brought until 400 days after the shooting, thereby raising myriad questions among the public concerning the overall investigation, what steps were or were not undertaken by the State's Attorney, the rationale for those decisions and the reasoning underlying the coincidental timing of the indictment relative to the release of the videos; and
WHEREAS, this is just one incident among numerous other matters that raises significant questions about the operations of her office; and
WHEREAS, leaving such questions unanswered serves only...
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