AP

Wisconsin deputy not charged after new look at 2016 shooting

May 31, 2022, 8:53 AM | Updated: Jun 1, 2022, 11:45 am

FILE - This undated file photo provided by the Wauwatosa Police Department in Wauwatosa, Wis., show...

FILE - This undated file photo provided by the Wauwatosa Police Department in Wauwatosa, Wis., shows Wauwatosa Police Officer Joseph Mensah. The prosecutors announced Wednesday, June 1, 2022, that they didn’t find sufficient evidence to charge Mensah who shot and killed Anderson Jr. after discovering him sleeping in a park after hours in June 2016. (Gary Monreal/Monreal Photography LLC/Wauwatosa Police Department via AP File)

(Gary Monreal/Monreal Photography LLC/Wauwatosa Police Department via AP File)

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Two court-appointed prosecutors declined Wednesday to charge a Wisconsin sheriff’s deputy in the 2016 fatal shooting of a man sleeping in a park, saying they didn’t believe they could defeat a self-defense argument.

The decision echoes a district attorney’s finding years ago that Joseph Mensah had acted in self-defense when he shot Jay Anderson Jr., one of three people he fatally shot over a five-year span.

Mensah was a Wauwatosa police officer at the time but has since become a Waukesha County deputy.

The special prosecutors, Milwaukee attorney Scott Hansen and La Crosse County District Attorney Tim Gruenke, spent months reviewing the case, consulting judges and attorneys and even conducting a mock trial with a jury and repeatedly found they couldn’t overcome the self-defense argument. Ethical considerations prevent prosecutors from charging cases they know they can’t prove beyond a reasonable doubt, Hansen said.

“I’m only sorry that there’s nothing that we can do to help heal those wounds,” Hansen told Judge Glenn Yamahiro as Anderson’s family looked on from the courtroom’s gallery. “But there isn’t. And that’s our conclusion.”

Mensah came upon Anderson, who was 25, sleeping in a car after hours in a Wauwatosa park in June 2016. Mensah said he fired after Anderson reached for a gun on the passenger seat, and Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm declined to charge Mensah later that year. Chisholm also chose not to charge Mensah in the deaths of either of the other two people he killed.

Anderson’s family disputed that Anderson had reached for the gun. Their attorney, Kimberly Motley, used a obscure legal maneuver similar to a grand jury inquiry to persuade Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Glenn Yamahiro that there was enough probable cause to support charging Mensah. He appointed Hansen and Gruenke in December as special prosecutors to review the case and file charges if they saw fit.

Motley argued Wednesday that Gruenke and Hansen were required by law to file charges since Yamahiro ruled enough probable cause existed to support a complaint.

“This law was put on the books to protect people that are victims, as my clients are,” Motley said.

Yamahiro said he believes the statutes required him only to find probable cause and launch a review. He said that self-defense is difficult to overcome and Hansen was right when he said prosecutors can’t ethically charge cases they know they can’t prove.

He sympathized with Anderson’s family but said he never thought a case against Mensah was a “a slam dunk.”

“I am sorry from that perspective this is not a more satisfying outcome for them,” he said.

Linda Anderson, Jay Anderson Jr.’s mother, told the judge that all the work that went into forcing the second review had “been for nothing.”

“I’m not stopping until that man is behind bars where he needs to be,” she said, drawing applause from the gallery.

Mensah’s attorney, Jonathan Cermele, didn’t immediately respond to an email message following the hearing.

Mensah joined the Wauwatosa Police Department in 2015. That year, he fatally shot Antonio Gonzales, who prosecutors said had refused to drop a sword. Mensah killed Anderson the following year. In 2020, he shot and killed 17-year-old Alvin Cole as Cole fled from police following a disturbance at a mall. Mensah said he fired because Cole pointed a gun at him. That shooting sparked months of protests.

In explaining his rationale for not charging Mensah in Cole’s death, Chisholm said evidence showed, among other things, that Cole fled from police carrying a stolen handgun, fired a shot while fleeing and refused police commands to drop the weapon.

Mensah is Black, as were Anderson and Cole. Gonzales identified as Native American.

Hansen and Gruenke wrote in a 25-page report summarizing their investigation and conclusions that the Gonzales and Cole shootings were relevant to Anderson’s case and if they tried to tie the shootings together in court a judge wouldn’t permit it.

They added that Mensah put himself in danger during his encounter with Anderson by approaching Anderson’s vehicle from the passenger side rather than the driver’s side, using his squad’s floodlights rather than its emergency lights, not waiting for back-up officers and failing to keep Anderson’s gun in sight. None of that changes whether he acted in self-defense at the moment he opened fire, however, they said.

Mensah resigned under pressure from the Wauwatosa Police Department in 2020 and joined the Waukesha County Sheriff’s Department.

The Anderson family has filed a civil lawsuit against Mensah in federal court. Motley said after the hearing that’s she looking forward to deposing Mensah under oath.

Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

AP

Image: A cargo ship is stuck under the part of the structure of the Francis Scott Key Bridge after ...

Associated Press

Authorities identify 2 bodies recovered at site of Baltimore bridge collapse

A major bridge in Baltimore snapped and collapsed after a container ship rammed into it early Tuesday, and several vehicles fell into the river below.

16 hours ago

Photo: Mountaineer Jim Whittaker has died at 95....

Gene Johnson, The Associated Press

Lou Whittaker, among the most famous American mountaineers, has died at age 95

Lou Whittaker, a legendary American mountaineer who helped lead ascents of Mount Everest, K2 and Denali, has died at age 95.

17 hours ago

File photo: Former Sen. Joe Lieberman speaks in Washington on Jan. 18, 2024....

Associated Press

Former Sen. Joe Lieberman, Democrats’ VP pick in 2000, dead at 82

Former U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, who nearly won the vice presidency on the Democratic ticket with Al Gore in 2000, has died.

17 hours ago

islamic state attack...

Vanessa Gera, The Associated Press

What we know after the Islamic State group claims responsibility for Moscow massacre

The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for an attack on a suburban Moscow concert hall that killed at least 133 people.

4 days ago

Moscow shooting...

The Associated Press

Russia: 60 dead, 145 injured in concert hall raid; Islamic State group claims responsibility

Assailants burst into a concert hall in Moscow on Friday and sprayed the crowd with gunfire, killing over 60 people, injuring more than 100.

6 days ago

Photo: Britain's Kate, Duchess of Cambridge visits 282 (East Ham) Squadron, RAF Air Cadets, Cornwel...

Associated Press

Kate Middleton announces she has cancer, is undergoing chemotherapy

Kate Middleton, Princess of Wales, says she is undergoing chemotherapy to treat cancer. She has been out of view since Christmas.

6 days ago

Wisconsin deputy not charged after new look at 2016 shooting