No convictions for St Louis officers who beat Black undercover colleague at protest
No convictions were returned for three white St Louis police officers accused of beating a Black undercover colleague so severely during a protest over another officer’s acquittal that he had to undergo multiple surgeries.
A jury on Monday acquitted officer Steven Korte of charges of deprivation of rights under color of law and of lying to the FBI in connection to the attack on officer Luther Hall.
It happened when Hall was mistaken for a protester during demonstrations that erupted after former police officer Jason Stockley, who is white, was found not guilty in the 2011 death of Anthony Lamar Smith, who was Black.
Hall described the 2017 attack to jurors as a “free-for-all”.
The former officer Christopher Myers also was acquitted of a deprivation of rights count but the jury could not reach a verdict on a charge of destruction of evidence against Myers for allegedly smashing Hall’s cellphone. The jury also deadlocked on the deprivation of rights charge against the former officer Dustin Boone, leading the judge to declare a mistrial on counts where the jury could not agree.
Defense lawyers said police department dysfunction meant officers and supervisors on the street didn’t know undercover officers were working that night. Defense lawyers also challenged Hall’s ability to identify his attackers.
The verdicts reignited criticisms that an all-white jury was picked to decide the case.
“If an undercover cop can’t get justice, how will the rest of us who have been maced, shot, beaten, and brutalized ever get justice?” Tweeted Cori Bush, a Black congresswoman who represents the Missouri district that includes St Louis.
Two other officers, Randy Hays and Bailey Colletta, both of whom are white, entered pleas in the case. Hays pleaded guilty in 2018 to one felony count of deprivation of rights under color of law and admitted hitting Hall with a baton and shoving him to the ground. Colletta pleaded guilty to making false statements to the grand jury about the assault.
The St Louis region was still recovering from unrest that followed the fatal 2014 police shooting of Michael Brown in nearby Ferguson. Two nights after Stockley’s acquittal, demonstrators broke windows downtown. Police made 123 arrests but protesters and civil rights leaders said many of those arrested were peaceful demonstrators, journalists and onlookers who were brutalized and taunted.
Hall, who had been recording criminal activity during the protests, became separated from his partner while fleeing officers who were firing pepper-spray pellets and bean bag rounds into the crowd.
The assistant US attorney Carrie Costantin told the jurors that as Hall was complying with orders to get on the ground, he was knocked down, hit, picked up and knocked down again before being attacked with fists, feet and a baton.
Hall said he did not push, fight or pull away from the officers. He said he was stunned.
“I couldn’t believe it was happening,” he told the jury.
Prosecutors have said two of the officers, Myers and Boone, were motivated by an eagerness to harm protesters, the St Louis Post-Dispatch reported. Hall didn’t tell officers he was undercover because he did not want to ruin his chances of working undercover at future protests. A sergeant later recognized Hall and had him pulled aside.
Hall suffered a hole in his lip that had to be stitched closed, injuries to his jaw and injuries to his neck that would later require spinal fusion. He also was unable to eat solid food for weeks, causing him to lose 20lbs.
Hall sued the department and officers, including Myers and Boone, but recently settled the case against the department for $5m. He remains with the department. Korte also is still with the department, but the others have all left.