JUSTICE FOR ASHLI BABBITT LEGAL FUND

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                WE ARE HERE TO VINDICATE HER CIVIL RIGHTS

The shooting of Ashli Babbitt on January 6, 2021, by an unidentified U.S. Capitol Police Lieutenant was an unjustified use of deadly force which violated her constitutional rights. Video footage shows that Ashli was not an immediate threat to the officer or anyone else as she stepped into a window leading to the Speaker’s Lobby and was shot and killed.  

At 5' 2" tall and 115 pounds, Ashli could have been stopped by a single trained officer. The officer who decided to shoot her was not alone: there were over a half-dozen police officers on Ashli’s side of the door and several more on his side. In short, the use of deadly force served no legitimate law enforcement purpose, and violated her clearly established constitutional right against the use of excessive force.     

On top of this, Ashli was entitled to a warning and chance to surrender before she was shot to death.  Witnesses confirm that the officer did not give a verbal warning prior to firing. Due to the officer’s decision to conceal himself in a side room off the lobby, it is evident that she was unaware of the officer’s presence. The shooting was tantamount to an execution without trial, and violated ordinary standards of decency that exist in any civilized country.  As a veteran who served in combat zones abroad and risked her life for her country, she deserved better.    

To date, the officer who shot Ashli has not been identified. Neither the Capitol Police nor any other governmental authority has given an account of the facts surrounding the shooting. There has been no official explanation or justification for the use of lethal force in this matter. This lack of transparency impedes public scrutiny which is necessary to hold government officials accountable in a free society and it denies Ashli's family the ability to hold the officer and the Capitol Police responsible for their wrongdoing.

My law firm and I represent Ashli’s husband and family members. We have filed a lawsuit against District of Columbia on behalf of Ashli's husband, Aaron Babbitt to obtain investigative records including the name of the police officer that killed Ashli and surveillance video from inside the Capitol. Additionally, we have done extensive investigation in preparation for lawsuits that will be filed against U.S. Capitol Police and the police officer that took Ashli's life.

The legal expenses in a case such as this stand to be significant. Your contribution will be used to offset expenses related to engaging professionals and other consultants with expertise in use of force, police procedure, security and computer forensic analysis, medical professionals, and other legal and technological specialties.

We want to thank each and every person that have reached out to us. We are overwhelmed by the outpouring of support received by Ashli's family and the legal team.  Your gracious words and contributions are appreciated more than words can adequately describe.
We invite you to follow us on our Twitter Page for news and updates: Justice For Ashli Babbitt, @ForAshli

Terrell Roberts,
Roberts and Wood Law Firm
Attorney for Estate of Ashli E. Babbitt

UPDATES

OUR COMMITMENT TO JUSTICE FOR ASHLI BABBITT WILL NOT WAVER
October 15, 2021 facebook twitter

We want to thank each and every person that has reached out to us over the last nine months and made such generous contributions to the Justice For Ashli Babbitt Legal Fund.  Your donations make this significant legal battle possible.

Through your donations we have made significant progress in our investigative process and we continue working toward vindication of Ashli Babbitt’s civil rights.

We invite you to follow us on our Twitter Page for news and updates: Justice For Ashli Babbitt, @ForAshli

We are truly grateful for your support, words or encouragement, and prayers.

Terrell Roberts,
Roberts and Wood Law Firm
Attorney for Estate of Ashli E. Babbitt

FEDERAL AGENT PENS OPEN LETTER RESPONSE TO US CAPITOL POLICE DECISION TO CLEAR MICHAEL BYRD OF WRONG DOING
August 29, 2021 facebook twitter

The U.S. Capitol Police is claiming that its use-of-force policy allows USCP officers to use deadly force against subjects even when a) they do not see the person’s hands, much less a weapon and b) do not witness the person committing any deadly acts. Furthermore, they would have us believe that they train their officers accordingly.
 
Chilling as that purportedly official position is in its own right, it’s even more amazing to consider the implication: On Jan 6, 2021, every single USCP officer, save one, ignored their training and disregarded their own agency’s official rules for using deadly force. Ashli Babbitt was not the only person who climbed through the only broken window/door in the U.S. Capitol that day, and Lt. Byrd was not the only armed officer on scene. Yet, according to their own statement, the Capitol Police are alleging that Byrd’s actions were lawful according to a policy that – evidently – only Lt. Michael Byrd had read, understood, and trained for. Either Byrd was right to shoot Babbitt, or every other USCP officer was right to not use their weapons against unarmed rioters. Both things cannot be true. Federal agents like me need clarity when it comes to making life-or-death decisions involving firearms. Is the new normal that we can shoot empty-handed threats who aren’t trying to kill someone?
 
This is not conjecture, either. In Lt. Byrd’s own words, he admits that he “could not fully see [Babbitt’s] hands or what was in the backpack or what the intentions are (sic).” There is no misunderstanding here: law enforcement doesn’t get to assume people are armed until they prove otherwise. Again, NBC’s Lester Holt asked Byrd if the fact that he didn’t know if Babbitt was armed affected his decision to shoot, and Byrd said “It did not.” If Byrd acted lawfully, then the USCP is claiming this conduct is the law of the land. That is outrageous.
 
You will not find a police or law enforcement agency anywhere in the country that subscribes to this dangerously reckless ruleset. Quite the opposite, in fact: reputable organizations would fire officers and agents who killed subjects in situations where they can’t articulate the means/opportunity/intent necessary to justify deadly force. Byrd admitted he was afraid, but he did not share why or what about Ashli Babbitt in particular scared him. To merely call her a “threat” without a reasonable explanation doesn’t pass legal muster, and it feeds the sense that Byrd acted out of panic instead of reason. But rather than hold Byrd accountable for his wrongful and negligent action, the USCP simply lowered their official standards to a point that conveniently excuses it.
 

PRESS RELEASE: BABBITT FAMILY ATTORNEY, TERRY ROBERTS RESPONDS TO STATEMENTS MADE BY MICHAEL BYRD
August 28, 2021 facebook twitter

Although Byrd said that he followed his police training, that is not the case at all.  Here’s why.
 
1. The standard for using deadly force is that the officer must be confronted with an imminent threat of death or serious bodily injury to himself or others.  Byrd’s account fails to articulate any such threat.  Although he claims that by his shooting Babbitt, he saved “countless lives,” the truth is that there were no congressman in close proximity to Babbitt, and none in the speaker’s lobby, when Byrd discharged his firearm.  Also, he admitted that he never saw Babbitt brandishing a weapon.   In short, his account does not demonstrate an imminent threat which warranted the use of deadly force.
 
2.  It is a universally accepted principle in police training that an officer must consider other reasonable options before using deadly force.  Byrd’s account yesterday does not explain why he could not have simply confronted Babbitt physically and cuffed her.  After all, she was much smaller than him.  He had the time and opportunity to approach her and grab her and several officers, who can be seen in videos, were present in the Speaker’s Lobby. They could have assisted him.  Wasn’t this a better option than killing her?
 
3. Byrd claimed that he was yelling warnings, but the evidence does not back him up.  His head is not visible on the video until he pops out of the side room and is ready to shoot  When he does, it is evident that he is not yelling, i.e., his facial and body movements are not indicative of someone yelling loudly or repeatedly.    (He is wearing a mask.  Why didn’t he take it off if he wanted to be heard?)  Finally, the witnesses on Ashli’s side of the door did not hear warnings.  And this includes a witness standing 4-5 feet from Byrd.  
 
Terrell N. Roberts, III
Roberts & Wood, Attorneys at Law

BABBITT FAMILY ATTORNEY, TERRY ROBERTS IDENTIFIES THE KILLER OF ASHLI BABBITT
August 26, 2021 facebook twitter

PRESS RELEASE

Babbitt family attorney, Terry Roberts identifies the killer of Ashli Babbitt as USCP Lieutenant Michael Leroy Byrd. The same person that recklessly left his service weapon in a bathroom in the Capitol in 2019. Story and photos below.

https://www.newsweek.com/exclusive-police-lieutenant-who-killed-january-6-capitol-rioter-ashli-babbitt-finally-identified-1623166?amp=1&__twitter_impression=true

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