Judge delays decision on case against Wisconsin officer
This undated photo provided by family through Motley Legal Services shows Jay Anderson. A judge will decide this week whether to charge a Wisconsin police officer who killed a man sitting in a parked car after the man’s family invoked a rarely used legal process in a bid to get around prosecutors who cleared the officer. Joseph Mensah shot Jay Anderson Jr. after he discovered him sleeping in his car after hours in a park in Wauwatosa, a Milwaukee suburb, in 2016. Mensah said Anderson was reaching for a gun. (Photo courtesy the family of Jay Anderson via AP)
MILWAUKEE (AP) — A judge has delayed his decision on whether to go around prosecutors and find probable cause to charge a Wisconsin police officer who killed a man sitting in a parked car.
Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Glenn Yamahiro was expected to decide Friday whether enough evidence exists to charge Joseph Mensah in Jay Anderson Jr.'s death five years ago.
But Anderson family attorney Kimberley Motley said Monday that Yamahiro has pushed the decision back to July 28. A message left at Yamahiro’s chambers on Monday wasn’t immediately returned.
Mensah shot Anderson in 2016 after he found Anderson sleeping in his car after hours in a Wauwatosa park. He said he fired when Anderson reached for a gun on the passenger seat.
Anderson was the second of three people Mensah killed during a five-year stint with the Wauwatosa Police Department. Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm cleared Mensah of criminal wrongdoing in each case.
Anderson’s family invoked a rarely used grand jury-like proceeding known as a John Doe to get a judge to take a fresh look at the case. The process has a judge listening to witness testimony to decide whether enough probable cause exists to justify charges.
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This story was first published on June 21, 2021. It was updated on July 28, 2021 to correct that the judge considering the Anderson case was finding whether probable cause existed to charge the police officer, rather than bringing charges directly.