JACKSON, Miss. (WJTV) – Three Jackson police officers who were allegedly involved in the death of Keith Murriel have been fired for a policy violation. It’s unclear if the violation is directly related to Murriel’s death, but this comes as the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation (MBI) wrapped up their investigation into the case
Murriel died in Jackson police custody on New Year’s Eve.
One officer, Kenya McCarty, was fired in February. The other three officers, Avery Willis, James Land and Cazinova Reed, were recently fired from the Jackson Police Department (JPD).
Jackson Police Chief James Davis said he doesn’t know the status of their internal investigation into Murriel’s death, but MBI completed their investigation and turned the case over to the Hinds County District Attorney’s Office.
The Mississippi Department of Public Safety (DPS) has not released the body camera footage despite claims in February that the video would be released once the investigation was complete.
“The policy was recently changed for MBI that they would make public any body camera or dash camera video after these incidents have been completed. We’re going to do that in this case. I can assure that citizens of Jackson as well has the State of Mississippi there will be transparency,” said DPS Commissioner Sean Tindell.
WJTV 12 News reached out to DPS, and we were told to put in a public record’s request for the body camera video. We were denied that request in a statement that said, “The information requested, to the extent that it exists, constitutes investigative reports, which are not subject to release through public records request.”
Murriel’s family has filed a lawsuit against the former police officers for alleged excessive force and failure to render medical aid. Their attorney watched the body camera video and urged law enforcement to release it to the public.
“If there’s going to be body cams and if the purpose of the body cam footage was for transparency, why not show it? I think the video is going to show that what happened to Keith is extremely bad. I think because of that, this is the reason why this video hasn’t been released to the public, because it’s just that bad,” said Attorney Daryl K. Washingon.
WJTV 12 News reached out to the Hinds County District Attorney’s Office for an update on the status of the case, but we have not heard back despite multiple attempts to reach out to the office.