State Police Investigation on Carrington Shooting Expected Tuesday

Champaign County State's Attorney Julia Reitz has completed her review of a state police investigation in the October police shooting death of a Champaign teen.

Reitz confirms she had scheduled an appointment to meet with the family of Kiwane Carrington Tuesday morning, and it's not known how soon the report will be made public after that meeting. But a group led by CU Citizens for Peace and Justice says it's a foregone conclusion the officers involved in the October 9th shooting of the 15-year old won't face criminal charges. They're calling for reviews of the case from a special prosecutor and federal Department of Justice. Those with the civil rights group point to that fact that both officers are currently on the job. Champaign Police Chief R.T. Finney remains on duty, while City Manager Steve Carter confirmed last week that officer Daniel Norbits was doing some office work after being placed on paid leave.

The activists also contend that the public can't trust a multi-jurisdictional team that helped state police in their investigation since many of them are friends and often work together. Rhonda Williams is Kiwane Carrington's aunt. "I feel the information probably has been tamperered with," says Williams. "I think that they all stick together with one another and my nephew's not here to tell his side of the story. So basically we're just going on what the officer's story is." Through e-mails obtained through Freedom of Information requests, CU Citizens for Peace and Justice also contends that some key eyewitnesses of the shooting were never interviewed. And the group's Aaron Ammons says it's 'disturbing' that Champaign city council members would send e-mails to Reitz regarding the investigation.

"The Champaign City Council, as Tom Bruno has alluded to on many occasions, is the review board of the Champaign Police Department," says Ammons. "So we find it very disturbing that members of the city council would be sending information to Julia Reitz, who's criminally investigating two of the officers."

In media reports, Reitz calls her work completely objective, and said it's outrageous to suggest that her office would violate its ethical obligations.