Humboldt County District Attorney Maggie Fleming says her office will need another month to six weeks to complete its review of the David Josiah Lawson homicide investigation to determine what — if any — charges are appropriate in the case.
The Arcata Police Department completed its investigation into Lawson’s April 15, 2017, stabbing death and turned the case over to Fleming’s office Nov. 8. The district attorney initially indicated her office would need “several weeks” to review all the submitted reports and recordings before deciding how to proceed.
In an email to the Journal on Sunday, Fleming wrote that an initial review of the case file revealed her office would need “additional existing documents and materials” from APD, which it received Nov. 30, as well as “additional information from other agencies that participated in the investigation. (Fleming declined to share details on what additional information was requested and from which agencies in an effort to “protect the investigation.”)
“We continue to gather and evaluate information,” she wrote. “I anticipate four to six additional weeks to complete the process, assuming we receive additional needed information in a timely manner.”
Lawson, a 19-year-old Humboldt State University sophomore, was fatally stabbed before dawn at an off-campus party. A McKinleyville man — Kyle Zoellner — was arrested at the scene and charged with Lawson’s murder, though the case was dismissed several weeks later when a judge found prosecutors failed to present enough evidence to support the charge.
From there, APD resumed the investigation amid no small amount of controversy. The case has been racially charged from the beginning, as Lawson was black and Zoellner is white and a number of witnesses have indicated that Zoellner’s girlfriend hurled racial epithets at Lawson as he lay dying. Lawson’s death and the ensuing investigation have been the subject of numerous protests, including some that disrupted Arcata City Council meetings.
As the year anniversary of Lawson’s death approached, Tom Parker, a retired FBI agent brought on to consult with the case, resigned, charging that APD had been dishonest with him about its progress and refused to follow his advice in the investigation. Parker’s resignation was quickly followed by that of Chief Tom Chapman, who stepped down abruptly without offering a public explanation. The city has also received threats of litigation from both Zoellner and Lawson’s mother, with both essentially alleging that APD mishandled the homicide investigation.
One of former Interim APD Chief Richard Ehle’s last official acts while in office was wrapping up the investigation — which he brought in numerous outside detectives and additional resources to accomplish. Ehle told the Journal he believed investigators had found “unequivocal physical evidence” linking a specific suspect to Lawson’s death, though he declined to name the suspect or describe the evidence.
The city has since hired Brian Ahearn as Chapman’s permanent replacement.
Once Fleming’s review of the case is complete, her office could decide to file a criminal complaint charging someone with causing Lawson’s death, decline to prosecute the case or request further investigation by APD or the DA’s internal Criminal Investigations Bureau.
Related Stories
‘Restoring Trust’
Languishing or Progressing?
Missing Pieces
What Now?
This article appears in Flash Fiction 2018.
It’s important to note the article mentions, and credits, “racial epithets” as racially charging the case. The incident itself, however, occured before that. Every followup article makes “racial epithets” a point of focus. However, clearly, the issue of a group of people (who happen to be black) ganging up against an unarmed guy (who happens to be white) and beating him unconscious is infinitely more critical to the incident, and is just as obviously the largest point of contention over the case in forums. Almost exclusively, in fact.
An unarmed guy was viciously beaten unconscious by a gang of people.
Why isn’t that worked into ANY of the Journal’s followups?
Art, they are doing it on purpose. The Journal knows exactly what they are doing, or they are ignorant as to the facts, and discoveries that have been made public.
I’d really like to know the Journal’s thoughts, if nothing else on the concept of “political correctness”. Such lopsided reporting creates the very problems writers of the Journal have made a point of admonishing in their personal editorials. The Lawson case is as much of an example as many others, where race really has clouded fair reporting. What’s the reasoning?
That’s been the hardest part for me to process. Josiah Lawson was openly racist, even had a video of two black men in white face mocking white people posted on his Facebook right before his death as well as lots of anti white and anti cop post. A group of black men turned a simple question about a missing phone into a big deal then jumped one guy, five on one, choked him to the point of unconcious and one of the assailants died while assaulting someone? That’s the most important part and yes it’s awful the gf said disgusting things while someone died but that doesn’t take away from the fact that someone died while commiting a violent crime, that doesn’t make you a victim. It’s more like a racist died commiting a violent assault. They immediately kicked out two guys from there Brothers United group because they wouldn’t go along with their victim of a hate crime story. It’s sad because using race and the black lives matter movement for stories like this takes away from actual victims of hate crimes. Josiah Lawson was openly racist and died assaulting an innocent person, he was Likely stabbed by someone who was assaulting Zoellner with him.
No one expects justice in any case involving people who are filled with paranoia and hate for all humans. You create unlivable conditions for human beings everywhere you go which includes yourself. Don’t believe for a moment that your hateful words, the games of the prosecution, or the pretended disfunction of law enforcement has freed Zoellner. He is tied to Lawson forever. Life doesn’t end when you leave your hateful meatsacks. You people honestly believe you are freeing yourselves by constantly spewing hate. You’re not. No one ever gets away with harming anyone. I’ll see you three in hell.