Burlington, Iowa: No jury for Autumn Steele's murderer, officer Jesse Hill

[Democide]

Opinion: Daunte Wright's killer faced a jury in Minnesota. In Iowa, Autumn Steele's killer did not.
After an accidental killing by police in Iowa, one prosecutor substituted her judgment for the judgment of 12 jurors.

27 December 2021

Minnesota and its government officials delivered an important lesson recently on how to provide justice — and their lesson should be taken to heart by their neighbors in Iowa. The contrast is jarring between the way government handled the deaths of Daunte Wright in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, and Autumn Steele in Burlington, Iowa. One was shot to death while trying to evade arrest. The other was the unintended victim of a fatal shooting. Iowans should be uncomfortable with the questions that grow naturally out of these contrasts. We should be embarrassed by the starkly different ways government in the two ...

Opinion: Daunte Wright's killer faced a jury in Minnesota. In Iowa, Autumn Steele's killer did not.

Retired journalist: After an accidental killing by police in Iowa, one prosecutor substituted her judgment for the judgment of 12 jurors.

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[Democide]

Lawyer for family of mother slain by Iowa cop: 'Burlington covered up a murder'

18 October 2018

Law enforcement agencies cherry-picked information from witness statements to blunt liability after a police officer shot and killed Burlington mother Autumn Steele in front of her young son, an attorney for Steele's family says, citing now-public court records. The "after-the-fact justification" was an attempt to exonerate Burlington Police Officer Jesse Hill of reckless conduct, the family argued in a federal wrongful death lawsuit that in June resulted in a $2 million settlement. The agencies — Burlington Police, the Des Moines County Attorney and the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation — waged a legal battle for more than three years to ...

Lawyer for family of mother slain by Iowa cop: 'Burlington covered up a murder'

Witness statements and video released last month call into question whether a dog on the scene was vicious, as law enforcement reports said.

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[Democide]

In bringing the truth about daughter's death to light, her biggest constant has been fear
We have hoped and prayed for those in power to confront fears, but again and again they fail us

21 November 2019

Gina Colbert of Columbus, Ga., was honored recently by the Iowa Freedom of Information Council with its Friend of the First Amendment Award. The award has been given annually since 2001 to people who have been effective advocates for open and accountable government. Colbert began her advocacy on the morning of Jan. 6, 2015, when her daughter, Autumn Steele, 34, was shot to death by a Burlington police officer outside the home she shared with her husband and young son. The officer said he was trying to shoot the Steeles’ dog as it came at the group. But Steele was ...

In bringing the truth about daughter's death to light, her biggest constant has been fear

My daughter Autumn was shot and killed in her front yard by a Burlington police officer

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