New grand juries will not consider charges in the deaths of two Black men, including one from Massachusetts, at the hands of police officers in New York's Westchester County.
More than two years ago, the office of Westchester County District Attorney Miriam Rocah said it would review the shooting deaths of 20-year-old Danroy "DJ" Henry in 2010 and 68-year-old Kenneth Chamberlain.
Rocah said Wednesday that no new evidence was found to warrant a new grand jury investigation in either case.
Henry, a native of Easton, Massachusetts, was a junior at Pace University in Mount Pleasant when a white police officer in that community shot inside his vehicle on Oct. 17, 2010.
The officer claimed Henry tried to run him over, but evidence raised serious questions about his story.
Chamberlain, a Marine veteran and retired correction officer who suffered from mental illness, was shot in his White Plains home by police responding to his medical alert system, which had accidentally been activated.
In June of 2021, Rocah ordered the independent reviews of both cases. Grand juries had previously considered charges in both under Janet DiFiore, Westchester County's district attorney at the time. John Gleeson, a retired federal judge, and Douglas Zolkind, a former federal prosecutor, were brought on to conduct the new reviews.
"The independent reviews have concluded that there is no legal basis to resubmit charges to a new grand jury," Rocah said in a statement Wednesday. "The review of the circumstances and aftermath of the shooting deaths of DJ Henry and Kenneth Chamberlain, Sr. by me and members of my executive team did, however, identify areas where real analysis and reform are desperately needed.
Rocah said her office as sharing its findings and recommendations in the hope of making investigations into police shootings "more transparent, fair and compassionate to grieving families."
"When those of us in the criminal justice system acknowledge where we can do better, the increased transparency leads to more faith and trust in the system," she said in her statement. "More critically, it allows for prosecutors and law enforcement alike to take steps to ensure that tragedies like these are not repeated."
The report on Henry's case called into question the facts shared by police at the time of his killing.
"The day after DJ's death, the then-Mount Pleasant Police Chief publicly stated, incorrectly, that DJ struck one officer, was driving toward a second officer, and that both officers discharged their firearms at DJ's vehicle to stop it," the report read. "Seven years later, in May 2017, the Town of Mount Pleasant issued a public statement retracting those assertions and acknowledging that the Chief's comments were made 'before the events were fully investigated' and that they did not 'fully or fairly represent the events of that early morning.' Perhaps, most importantly, the retraction stated that the town regretted 'the misimpression of ... DJ Henry' which caused 'additional pain to the Henry family.'"
Still, the reports on both cases said the bar for resubmitting charges to a new grand jury is "very high under New York law," and that no basis to do so was found.
The son of Kenneth Chamberlain told NBC New York Wednesday he's still looking for answers.
"For almost 12 years now, the biggest question that my family has had was, 'What did the Westchester County district attorney at that time, Janet DiFiore, what did she instruct the grand jury to consider?" Kenneth Chamberlain Jr. said.
"Mr. Chamberlain was called a racial slur by law enforcement before they broke his door down and killed him," said Chamberlain's attorney, Mayo Gregory Bartlett. "That, in my estimation, was likely not considered by a grand jury."
At the time, DiFiore acknowledged that an officer was heard using a racial slur.
Some of Rocah's recommendations include ensuring all victims' families "with respect and dignity," improving police safety training, and measures to increase transparency such as considering unsealing charges submitted to grand juries.
"One of her recommendations, certainly, was to look at unsealing grand jury, but our only issue there, while we commend her for that, is that that would be limited to the Westchester County District Attorney's Office under Mimi Rocah," Bartlett told NBC New York. "So we think that we need legislative change, which would allow for a systemic change."
Bartlett said he and the Chamberlain family will continue demanding justice.
