This is really not good:

Fulton County District Attorney Paul L. Howard announced a total of 11 charges against Garrett Rolfe at an afternoon news conference in downtown Atlanta, calling Brooks’s killing unjustified and finding that Brooks posed no threat to Rolfe’s life during the incident.

From NPR:

Howard, the Fulton County district attorney, said during the press briefing that Brooks “never presented himself as a threat.”

“At the very beginning he was peacefully sleeping in his car, after he was awakened by the officer he was cooperative, and he was directed to move his car to another location. He calmly moved his car,” Howard said.

“Mr. Brooks never displayed any aggressive behavior,” he added.

That’s a flat-out lie. The video itself shows Brooks resisting arrest, scuffling with officers, stealing an officer’s taser, and firing at the officer while fleeing. Watch:

Besides, “felony murder”? Here, from FindLaw, are Georgia’s murder statutes:

What is Murder in Georgia?

When someone takes the life of another, regardless of intent or other details surrounding the incident, it is called a homicide. In Georgia, murder is the most severe type of homicide because it is planned and was done on purpose with some type evil intent. For example, a wife plans to kill her husband for months by poisoning his food or a gang member plans to assistance a rival by shooting into his house.

Felony Murder

In a “felony murder” situation, a death occurs during the commission of an “inherently dangerous felony.” Basically if you decide to rob a liquor store and accidentally kill the store clerk, then you will be guilty of felony murder. It doesn’t matter that you didn’t intend to shoot the clerk. The mere fact that you were committing a felony and killed someone can make you guilty of felony murder.

It would be extremely difficult to make a murder charge stick here. Nobody can possibly watch that video and think that Officer Rolfe planned in advance to kill Rayshard Brooks. But felony murder? What felony was Rolfe committing when he shot Brooks? According to the DA, the felony was “aggravated assault.” Here is the Georgia legal definition of aggravated assault.

So the DA will have to prove that a police officer struggling to apprehend a suspect who, in the act of resisting arrest, stole a taser and shot it at the officer while fleeing, committed felony assault while shooting at the suspect. By the way, I spoke to a police officer the other day who said that it is perfectly legitimate for an officer to fear that a taser shot could disable him and allow a suspect to seize his weapon. Unlikely here? Sure. But not at all unreasonable.

According to the Atlanta Journal Constitution, DA Howard not only did not wait for the Georgia Bureau of Investigation’s inquiry to be completed before announcing the charges, he did not even inform the GBI that he was going to do so.

Rolfe is going to walk, and he should walk, because there is no way that what he did was felony murder. The DA has overcharged him here. When Rolfe is acquitted, there will be more riots. Just you wait.

Why would the DA overcharge Rolfe? Well, DA Paul Howard is facing investigation for improperly funneling $140,000 from his non-profit to his wallet, as well as accusations of sexual harassment, and a challenge in the Democratic primary. It looks like he is using Rolfe to springboard himself back into office. Meanwhile, either his office will fail to convict Rolfe, or the conviction will be easily overturned on appeal, and the city of Atlanta will face more looting and burning.

Don’t misread me: I’m not saying that Rolfe should not have been charged with anything. I don’t know that; perhaps he should have been. But it is a huge stretch to call this felony murder, according to the clear meaning of the statute. Listen to the DA’s press announcement today. It’s possible that Rolfe should have been charged with something. But not felony murder.

I really do think you should watch that press conference. In it, the DA says that under the Atlanta police department’s policy, an officer cannot fire at a fleeing suspect unless he believes he faces a threat of “death or serious physical injury.” The DA then shows a blow-up of an image from the security camera footage, showing Brooks running away from Rolfe, and turning behind to fire his stolen taser at him. DA Howard makes a point of emphasizing that Brooks fired the taser prong above Rolfe’s head. The idea is that Rolfe wasn’t in danger of serious physical injury from the taser, because Brooks was aiming high.

This is silly. If you watch the video (linked above) you’ll see that the critical moments lasted two seconds or less. Rolfe saw that Brooks was pointing the taser at him, but as they both ran, he, Rolfe, was supposed to have appreciated that Rolfe was aiming high. Really?

In the next photograph — the moment the shot was fired — Brooks clearly had his back to Rolfe, and was, as we know, shot in the back. But these two still frames deceive. Below I’ve cued the security footage to the 3:55 mark. Brooks fires the taser at Rolfe at 3:58; Rolfe fires his pistol at Brooks at 3:59. (Do not watch this if you don’t want to see Brooks shot):

Rolfe’s law firm responded:

“The loss of life in any instance is tragic. However, Officer Rolfe’s actions were justified under O.C.G.A. §17-4-20 and O.C.G.A. §16-3-21. A peace officer may use deadly force to 1. arrest a suspected felon when he reasonably believes that the suspect poses an immediate threat of physical violence to the officer or others, 2. to protect himself and others from a life-threatening injury, and 3. to prevent the commission of a forcible felony. Mr. Brooks violently attacked two officers and disarmed one of them. When Mr. Brooks turned and pointed an object at Officer Rolfe, any officer would have reasonably believed that he intended to disarm, disable, or seriously injure him.”

You think a jury is not going to give a police officer the benefit of the doubt in this case? Do you really think that this is felony murder?

If police officers are going to be scapegoated by DAs trying to appease the mob, then people are going to cease being police officers. If I were on the Atlanta force, I would be looking for another job.

UPDATE: Of course by the time Rolfe’s trial happens, Howard will have been returned to office, providing he wins re-election this fall. So he’s good.