Former Tulsa, Okla., Reserve Deputy Robert C. Bates was not certified to use the .357 Magnum revolver involved in the shooting death of Eric Harris, an unarmed black man. Furthermore, that personal weapon was not on the Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office list of approved weapons, the lawyer for Harris’ family said, according to the Associated…

Prosecutors argue in a court filing that a “bloodlust” compelled Aeman Presley to commit a series of murders in the Atlanta area, the Associated Press reports. Presley, 34, appeared in a DeKalb County courtroom Monday. He’s accused of killing three homeless men and a female hairdresser. Prosecutors in DeKalb and Fulton counties want the death…

Police in Charlotte, N.C., arrested four men for a shooting incident that injured one person at Johnson C. Smith University, the Charlotte Observer reports. The four suspects—Everett Phifer, Elijah Craig, Juan Leon and Shalique Edmond—reportedly shot an unidentified male student while he was sitting in a car on the campus of the historically black liberal…

A video viewed by millions shows a white policeman fatally shooting a fleeing, unarmed black man. But it’s not a slam dunk, warns a black lawyers group. There are legal scenarios in which full justice could elude the victim, Walter Scott, and his family. That’s why Black Lawyers for Justice, the group that brought a…

A group of advocates have launched a hunger strike to pressure the Senate to bring Loretta Lynch’s bid to become the next attorney general to a vote, Politico reports. Lynch’s supporters are angry that Republican leaders in the Senate continue to delay her confirmation, which would make Lynch the first female African-American U.S. attorney general.  The…

Jeffrey Walker, a 24-year veteran of the Philadelphia Police Department, has admitted to committing “thousands” of crimes. The disgraced former narcotics investigator also has testified against six members of his undercover unit in a federal corruption trial, the Associated Press reports.   The FBI caught Walker in a sting operation. He began cooperating with federal…

Davontae Sanford’s new legal team filed an affidavit in court from an imprisoned hit man who says that he—not Sanford—killed four people in a Detroit drug house, the Associated Press reports. The sworn statement is part of a motion for a new trial. Vincent “Vito” Smothers underscored in the affidavit that he has “nothing to…

A Brooklyn, N.Y., judge has ordered the release of Rosean Hargrave, a man convicted in 1991 of murdering an off-duty corrections officer, the New York Daily News reported. Hargrave’s case is the latest overturned conviction involving former New York City Detective Louis Scarcella, who has been accused many times of framing suspects. “The finding of…

The recent police shooting of Walter Scott, an unarmed black man, in North Charleston, S.C., sparked a fresh wave of national protests against police violence. Authorities arrested scores of demonstrators from coast to coast as part of a national day of action to end police killings of unarmed minorities, according to Reuters. In New York…

Chicago is trying to apply closure to a scandal that continues to haunt the city. Mayor Rahm Emanuel and several city aldermen proposed Tuesday a $5.5 million reparations package for victims of police torture, reported the Associated Press. The package will be introduced Wednesday to the City Council. “Today we stand together as a city…