Governor Moore,
When we last spoke, you said you’d do what you could to help my son Donnell Rochester. You posed with me for an Instagram photo op. Now I’m asking you to follow through with what you said you would do by ordering the Maryland Attorney General to prosecute the officers that killed my son.
To remind you, on February 19, 2022, my son Donnell Rochester was killed by Baltimore City Police Officer Connor Murray. Since then, the Maryland Attorney General and Baltimore Civilian Review Board have found the officers at fault.
In October 2023, the Maryland legislature granted the Attorney General sole authority to prosecute cases where police kill people. This law was passed explicitly to address the obvious conflict of interest inherent to allowing local State’s Attorney offices to investigate and prosecute the police forces that they work with and rely on day in and day out.
You may also recall that in 2020, Minnesota Governor and now vice presidential nominee Tim Walz intervened to change the jurisdiction so that his state’s Attorney General could prosecute George Floyd’s killers instead of the local prosecutor because of concerns about a conflict of interest.
Officers Murray and Robert Mauri shot at Donnell multiple times with the fatal shot going through his passenger-side window.
Officers Murray and Robert Mauri shot at Donnell multiple times with the fatal shot going through his passenger-side window. They cruelly let him bleed out on the street instead of taking him to a hospital. His last words were “help me, I can’t breathe.” He was only 18 years old and was a senior in high school. He was a vibrant, funny, loving young gay man and he should still be here. It has been almost two years and we still have received no justice.
Unfortunately, in the State of Maryland the AG’s office will not prosecute cases of police killings that took place before October 2023 and instead relies on kicking it back to the local State’s Attorney’s Office.
This means that Donnell’s case is frozen in limbo because he was killed before the legislature addressed this obvious conflict of interest. The Maryland Attorney General’s Independent Investigative Division found probable cause for voluntary manslaughter charges to be brought against at least one of the officers involved in Donnell’s death, but the Baltimore City State’s Attorney refuses to prosecute the case. This is the conflict of interest in action, and our demand is that you intervene to make it right.
The Governor has clear authority, pursuant to Article V Sec. 3(a)(2) of the Maryland Constitution to order the Maryland Attorney General to “Investigate, commence, and prosecute or defend any civil or criminal suit or action or category of such suits or actions in any of the Federal Courts or in any Court of this State.” This is what we’re asking you to do.
Governor Wes Moore, please confirm receipt of our letter and order the Maryland Attorney General to prosecute those involved in the killing of Donnell. That office already found probable cause to do so; the only reason it hasn’t been done is because the Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s Office has a conflict of interest in prosecuting the police department it relies on to make cases. We have already attempted and been denied on this urgent matter by the legislative process. Please change the jurisdiction of Donnell Rochester’s case from the Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s Office to the Office of the Attorney General, and let’s get Donnell Rochester some justice!
We look forward to receiving your confirmation of receipt and next steps from your office, and we thank you in advance for acting on your responsibility to address this.
Sincerely,
Danielle Brown
Mother of Donnell Rochester
The post Frozen in Limbo: Donnell Rochester’s Mother Writes An Open Letter to Governor Wes Moore appeared first on Baltimore Beat.