COBB COUNTY, Ga. — The Cobb County District Attorney said Tuesday that he did not mishandle the case of Devonte Brown, the 28-year-old man shot and killed by a Cobb County police officer in August 2021.
The attorneys for the Brown family announced that they are filing a federal lawsuit and are demanding a special prosecutor be assigned to the case.
“There was one goal in mind by the Cobb County District Attorney’s Office and that was for the case to go no further,” said attorney Bernarda Villalona.
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Tuesday afternoon, Cobb County District Attorney Flynn Broady told Channel 2′s Audrey Washington that the Brown family and their attorneys are incorrect.
“There is no truth to the matter that we mishandled this,” Broady said.
According to Cobb County police, in August 2021 Brown tried to get away from officers after they pulled him over for reckless driving on Powder Springs Road.
Body camera video obtained by Channel 2 Action News showed how officers boxed Brown’s car in during the traffic stop.
Minutes later, one officer is seen shooting Brown, reportedly twelve times.
“For him to shoot 12 times into a vehicle killing Devonte Brown was just unreasonable,” attorney Crystal Carey said.
Police said Brown was a threat, but attorneys for the Brown family cited the department’s deadly force policy and said because of how Brown’s car was positioned, he was no longer a threat at the scene.
“If the officer’s not in imminent threat of injury you are not to use deadly force,” attorney Shantel Cherry-Lassiter explained.
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In November 2023, the grand jury concluded that there were no grounds to charge the officer who shot Brown.
The Brown family’s attorneys told Washington that District Attorney Broady presented evidence to the grand jury at least nine months before the GBI fully completed its investigation.
“That investigation continued and clearly the jury did not hear what a part of that investigation was,” Villalona said.
“All of the evidence was presented and we’re going to stick by that decision,” Broady added.
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