Maine DA to defy attorney general to charge officer in death

BANGOR, Maine (AP) — A Maine district attorney said she will prosecute a former police officer who shot and killed a teenager in 2007 if the state doesn't. But Attorney General Aaron Frey says the county prosecutor doesn't have the authority to do so.

Natasha Irving, the Democratic district attorney for Sagadahoc, Lincoln, Knox and Waldo counties, called attention to the fatal shooting of Gregori Jackson, 18, of Whitefield, after a traffic stop in Waldoboro.

Jackson was accused of resisting and fighting with Zachary Curtis, a reserve officer for the Waldoboro police.

After Jackson tried to run away, there was a second confrontation in which he was shot multiple times, including three times in the lower back and once in the head, according to a report. Curtis said he was choked and lost his glasses in the struggle.

In Maine, murder prosecutions are handled by the attorney general, while district attorneys can pursue manslaughter cases.

In this case, the statute of limitations expired for manslaughter, so Irving said she intends to defy the attorney general by convening a grand jury to consider a charge of depraved indifference murder.

The officer's use of deadly force was found to be legally justified by the attorney general's office, and a federal judge ruled against Jackson’s family in a wrongful death lawsuit against Curtis filed in 2010.

But Irving still has questions. “This is a very clear case to me, that the forensic evidence does not coincide with the testimony of what happened,” Irving told the Bangor Daily News.

Irving said her decision has nothing to do with current unrest around the country over police abuse. Both Jackson and Curtis are white. Her intent to prosecute was first reported by the Courier-Gazette.

Frey, the attorney general, said it's...