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Congressman Cohen Questions U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch Regarding Darrius Stewart Case During House Judiciary Hearing

November 17, 2015

[WASHINGTON, D.C.] – At a House Judiciary Committee hearing today, Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09), Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution and Civil Justice, asked U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch to open a federal investigation into the shooting death of Darrius Stewart. The Congressman pointed out that a Shelby County grand jury declined to indict the police officer who shot Darrius Stewart even though Shelby County District Attorney Amy Weirich asked for a voluntary manslaughter indictment and renewed his request for the Department of Justice to look at the case for possible civil rights violations.

“I have asked the Department of Justice to look into it [the Darrius Stewart case] and your [department’s] first response said that you’d monitor the case,” said Congressman Cohen. “Now that the case has gone through the grand jury process and did not get the result that the DA wanted, I would like to ask, as I’ve asked in writing before, for the Department of Justice to look into this case and see if civil rights violations may have occurred.”

The full video of Congressman Cohen’s questions to U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch can be found here.

Congressman Cohen initially asked the Department of Justice to investigate the Darrius Stewart case in July. A copy of Congressman Cohen’s July letter to the Department of Justice can be found here. A copy of the Department of Justice’s October 16, 2015 response can be found here. Congressman Cohen renewed his call for a federal investigation on November 2, 2015. A copy of Congressman Cohen’s November 3 letter to Attorney General Lynch can be found here.