State and local prosecutors in Virginia are asking the Justice Department to reconsider its decision not to prosecute two U.S. Park Police officers who fatally shot a motorist after a stop-and-go chase in 2017.
Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring and Fairfax County Commonwealth's Attorney Steve Descano wrote a letter Wednesday to Attorney General Merrick Garland.
Herring and Descano are pursuing involuntary manslaughter charges against the officers, Lucas Vinyard and Alejandro Amaya, in the shooting death of 25-year-old Bijan Ghaisar after a chase on the George Washington Memorial Parkway. But the prosecution is facing numerous hurdles because federal prosecutors, after a two-year investigation, elected not to charge the pair.
A hearing is scheduled for August in federal court as to whether the officers have immunity from local prosecution under the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution.
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In their letter, Herring and Descano say they hope the Biden administration will look at the facts and come to a different conclusion than the Trump administration about the officers' criminal liability.
