Author: Kweku Darfoor

Today we’d like to introduce you to a young and dynamic lawyer Kweku Darfoor.

Kweku, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I always wanted to study law, but I never knew I’d practice as a lawyer. However, my story can’t begin without mentioning my parents. It was during the beginning of the period of military rule in our home country Ghana that they decided to venture to America. At the time, my father was the high commissioner (ambassador equivalent) from Ghana to Sierra Leone. However, instead of choosing to live in constant uncertainty under that regime, he immigrated to this country in the early ’80s with my mother and older sister. My younger sister and I joined them in 1987. My entire journey parallels the risk my parents decided to take in the ’80s by leaving a prestigious career to chase the American dream. I’d like to say my sisters and I were the beneficiaries of the great sacrifices that my parents made. While they never were able to give me much financially, they instilled in me some core traits that I’ve carried with me till this day. Notably a tenacious work ethic, trustworthiness, and empathy. I credit my mother with the latter.

Even though I faced some dire circumstances along the way to eventually starting my own law firm after passing the Florida bar and getting admitted to the bar, these core traits never left me. In fact, I know those circumstances helped shaped the resiliency that I possess today. You’re probably wondering what kind of dire circumstances I could have faced. Well, in my first year of college, I almost died after being rushed to the emergency room for alcohol poisoning. I had to get my stomach pumped. Later in college, a violent and brutal assault left me clinically depressed which caused me to seek professional help. After sitting out a semester, I transferred to a school near my parents home called Florida Atlantic University. At FAU, I rediscovered a lot of the things that I’d lost that made me who I was before. My confidence and self-esteem started to soar in this environment as I became involved in many organizations and even re-established the NAACP chapter at FAU along with a few other students. I went on to receive a bachelors in economics from FAU in 2005.

At FAU, I had some amazing professors that took a personal interest in my success. I also formed some bonds with some special people that remain very close to me today. After FAU, I started a string of sales roles including e-commerce, finance/annuity, private mortgage notes, and recruiting and earned my Masters in International Business (MIBA) from Nova Southeastern University in 2008. Another thing happened in 2008; the economy was in the midst of the worst recession in decades and I lost my job. I decided the time had come for me to go to law school. So in 2008, I started my first year of law school at Florida A&M University College of Law. I studied very hard there and placed well enough in my class, which allowed me to transfer to Florida State University College of Law for my final two years of law school.

Darfoor Law Firm was established in 2014 out of the kitchen of one of my best friends home. It’s what you call a true bootstrap business! So, while working a document review gig in Miami during the day, I started working on cases for my firm at night. Initially, only one or two cases would trickle in at a time so I spent most of my time marketing and advertising. After nearly nine months of juggling running my firm and working document review, I made the tough decision to solely focus on building my firm. The reason I say tough is that I went from getting a consistent check every two weeks to a situation of no guarantee of income. It sounded crazy then, but it’s also the best decision I’ve made. To make it even more challenging, my now ex-wife had just relocated from Ghana to join me in South Florida and she wasn’t working either. Imagine that!

My firm practices in two primary areas, notably personal injury, including catastrophic injuries, premises liability, vehicular accidents, and wrongful death and business litigation. Together with my co-counsel, including attorneys Benjamin Crump, Daryl Parks, and Skinner Louis, I currently represent the family of Corey Jones in the civil case against the city of Palm Beach Gardens and Nouman Raja (ex-cop recently convicted of Corey’s killing and sentenced to 25 years in prison). You can never really prepare yourself for having this magnitude of a case this early in your career which gains national and international attention. This pivotal case will forever have a profound effect on me because Corey also happened to be a friend of mine. Corey, his brother C.J., his cousins and I played football together in high school in Palm Beach County. We continue to fight to obtain full justice for his family.

Outside of running the law firm, I enjoy staying engaged in the community by serving on the board of directors of Florida Atlantic University Alumni Association, serving on the board of directors of Urban Philanthropies, and serving on the board of directors of Corey Jones Scholarship Foundation. My firm also annually sponsors a team for the Zo’s Hoop Law Madness Tournament benefiting the Overtown Youth Center in Miami.

My main office is located in downtown Ft. Lauderdale but I handle cases statewide.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Definitely not been a smooth road. I spoke earlier about two separate incidents involving a violent attack I experienced and almost dying from alcohol poisoning. I didn’t speak on the fact that I nearly flunked out of college my first two years. After the violent attack, I suffered severe PTSD and was clinically depressed. I also had many unfortunate encounters with law enforcement in my teens and early-mid twenties. As recent as the time of starting my law firm in 2014, I was sleeping on an air mattress in my friend’s house and didn’t have a car. It’s not been easy along the way, but I also knew what doesn’t break me makes me stronger. With God, nothing is insurmountable.

Darfoor Law Firm – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
My firm focuses on catastrophic personal injury cases and business litigation. I’ve always been known as a fierce competitor and that serves me very well as a litigator. I’ve never met a challenge I didn’t like. I’m most proud that my small firm can go into any arena against lawyers from the largest firms with endless resources and still be able to get great results for my clients. I think that also delves into what sets me apart; the understanding that I can always figure out a way to solve a complex situation given enough time because my brain never stops thinking. Professionally, I think about and plan for stuff five years out as if it’s happening next month. However, I’m the most spontaneous person socially.

Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
I don’t leave much to chance (luck). I believe luck is what happens to you when preparation meets opportunity.

Source: http://voyagemia.com/interview/meet-kweku-darfoor-darfoor-law-firm-fort-lauderdale/

CBS Miami’s Joan Murray reports on the ongoing trial for former police officer Nouman Raja, who shot and killed Corey Jones on the side of the road in October of 2015.

The Overtown Youth Center recently raised funds for local youth and their families during the fourth annual Zo’s Hoop Law 3-on-3 Charity Basketball Tournament on Mar. 31.

The event benefits the Overtown Youth Center, a nonprofit organization that seeks to inspire and empower the lives of at-promise youth by connecting them to positive role models, enhancing their educational experience and exposing them to life-changing opportunities.

Twenty five teams comprised of 150 players from the legal field competed to earn a trophy and bragging rights as this year’s Zo’s Hoop Law Champions. The event took place at The Overtown Youth Center with more than 250 participants in attendance and included double elimination games, kid-friendly activities, lunch and a silent auction.

The team representing Darfoor Law Firm showed its talents on a different type of court and emerged as the 2018 Zo’s Hoop Law Champions.

Special guests included Miami Mayor Francis Suarez who took to the net with the City of Miami team to show his support, WSVN-7 Sports Anchor Donovan Campbell who was emcee for the day, and WPLG-10 News anchor Calvin Hughes who hit the court with a community team. “They have a 100 percent graduation rate for the kids that come through this program,” Suarez said. “Being out here, sweating it out and having fun, it’s nice to sort of take it easy and have a good time.”

The event was presented with the support of several sponsors including; Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP, Synergy Foundation, Ver Ploeg & Lumpkin PA, and the Mourning Foundation.

“I can’t be more pleased,” said event host and Miami Heat legend Alonzo Mourning. “It just lets me know that there are people in the community, especially our legal community, who care about what we’re trying to get accomplished here.”

SOURCE: http://communitynewspapers.com/brickell/zo-hosts-basketball-tournament-to-benefit-overtown-youth-center/

WPLG-10 News Anchor Calvin Hughes played hard.

About that everyone agrees.

So did Miami Mayor Francis Suarez.

But the team representing Darfoor Law Firm showed their talents on a different type of court and emerged as the 2018 Zo’s Hoop-Law Madness Charity Basketball Tournament champions.

It was a huge victory since Darfoor unseated the defending champions, team players from Eaton & Wolk PL, Harke Clasby & Bushman LLP, Rasco, Klock Perez & Neito and Vasallo Law.

This collective of local attorneys had won the first three Zo’s Hoop Madness.

WSVN-7 Sports Anchor Donovan Campbell was master of ceremonies for the game of 25 teams, about 150 players on March 31 at the Overtown Youth Center.

The 3-on-3 tournament is an idea of board member Candy Sicle, who proposed four years ago to create a fundraiser that would stand out from the traditional “black-tie-attire” gala, while still benefiting the organization.

The idea also sparked from the popular March Madness basketball games.

Sicle thought it would be a great idea to have employees of law firms in the community play in order to expose them to the organizations that provide supportive and preventive services to many of the youth they sometimes see or represent in court.

“This is also an opportunity for the youth we serve to see those in the legal field in a different light,” Yance Torres said in a statement.

Teams make a suggested donation of at least $1,500.

“The event has grown over the years, and now attracts over 25 law firms to battle on the court (pun intended), many of them return year after year to compete against their colleagues while supporting the life-changing work happening at the Overtown Youth Center.”

Even though the game is purely for entertainment and bragging rights, there is structure and game rules. The single-elimination games happen throughout the day, leaving only two firms to fight for the golden ball, which is a golden basketball trophy that is presented to the champions.

Second and third place finishers are recognized and awards are also presented to sponsors.

Miami Heat legend Alonzo Mourning kicked off the morning portion of the day by briefly talking about Overtown Youth Center’s mission and the importance of this event.

Mourning then took photos with each participating team.

“It just lets me know that there are people in the community, especially our legal community, who care about what we’re trying to get accomplished here,” he said.

The event has raised $50,000 and $75,000 respectively, to directly benefit the in-school, after-school and summer components that serve the children at the Overtown Youth Center.

These include preventive, interventional and support services to keep youth engaged in school that include STEM learning, mentoring, career and college exposure, job placement and more.

SOURCE: http://www.miamitimesonline.com/lifestyles/annual-fundraising–on–tournament-benefits-overtown-youth-center/article_e765682a-3e8e-11e8-8bae-47527b5542ce.html

Officer Nouman Raja never showed a badge and wasn’t wearing anything that would indicate he was a police officer before he confronted Corey Jones on a highway offramp and shot him three times, killing him, lawyers for Jones’ family said Thursday.They spoke at a news conference after they were briefed by State Attorney Dave Aronberg, the only information they’ve received from authorities since Jones was killed by the Palm Beach Gardens officer around 3:15 a.m. Sunday.

What they said they were told lends credence to the view that Jones didn’t know Raja was a police officer. The State Attorney’s Office would not comment on the details released by the family’s attorneys.

Jones’ father, brother and sister also spoke at the news conference in front of the Palm Beach County Courthouse, with as many as 17 sheriff’s deputies and a police dog milling around. Family members recalled Jones in an outpouring of grief shortly before they went to a protest rally outside Palm Beach Gardens City Hall.

Jones’ vehicle had broken down on the southbound offramp of PGA Boulevard and Interstate 95. Attorney Benjamin Crump said Jones was in his vehicle when Raja pulled up in an unmarked white van with tinted windows. The van wasn’t flashing emergency lights, he said.

Exit ramp from southbound I95 at PGA Boulevard Tuesday, October 20, 2015. Corey Jones was fatally shot by a Palm Beach Gardens police officer early Sunday morning. (Bruce R. Bennett \/ The Palm Beach Post)
Exit ramp from southbound I95 at PGA Boulevard Tuesday, October 20, 2015. Corey Jones was fatally shot by a Palm Beach Gardens police officer early Sunday morning. (Bruce R. Bennett / The Palm Beach Post)

Images from the scene taken hours later by WPBF-TV Channel 25 indicate Jones’ sports utility vehicle was stopped on the ramp’s shoulder when Raja pulled up in a white Ford Econoline van and parked perpendicular and a few feet in front of Jones’ Hyundai Santa Fe, blocking several lanes.

Raja, who was wearing jeans, a T-shirt and a baseball cap, got out of the van without his badge, Crump said.

Melissa Jones cries as she talks about her brother, Corey Jones, as she stands with a family member, left, and attorney Benjamin Crump, right, during a press conference on the steps of the Palm Beach County Courthouse in West Palm Beach. (Brianna Soukup / The Palm Beach Post)
Melissa Jones cries as she talks about her brother, Corey Jones, as she stands with a family member, left, and attorney Benjamin Crump, right, during a press conference on the steps of the Palm Beach County Courthouse in West Palm Beach. (Brianna Soukup / The Palm Beach Post)

What exactly happened next is unclear, he said, but some things were known:

— Jones never fired his handgun, which he bought legally three days before.
— He had a concealed carry permit.Jones apparently ran away, since his body was found 80 to 100 feet from his vehicle. The gun had been dropped between his body and the vehicle.
— Raja fired six times, hitting Jones three times. The autopsy report isn’t finished, but one bullet broke Jones’ arm, and another entered his side and struck his aorta, likely killing him.

SOURCE: http://projects.mypalmbeachpost.com/coreyjones/

On what would have been Corey Jones’ 33rd birthday, his family representatives Friday said the legal system is taking too long to provide justice in the police shooting that took his life.

On Oct. 18, 2015, Jones was waiting for help with his broken-down SUV along I-95 when he was shot three times and killed by then-Palm Beach Gardens Police Officer Nouman Raja, according to investigators.

Raja — wearing jeans, a T-shirt and a ball cap, and driving an unmarked cargo van used for police surveillance — failed to identify himself as an officer before he shot Jones, who had a gun he was licensed to carry, according to investigators.

“We are looking for justice,” Corey Jones’ father, Clinton Jones, said at a news conference Friday in West Palm Beach. “This officer took his life. Didn’t even give him an opportunity. … There was no reason at all to kill my son.”

Raja has pleaded not guilty to manslaughter by culpable negligence and attempted first-degree murder. After Raja was charged last year, the county’s police union picked up his legal expenses. It said a police officer should be able “to defend himself while in fear for his life.”

The Corey Jones police shooting: A look at evidence in the case
“We will stick by this guy because he’s innocent of what he’s charged with,” John Kazanjian, president of the Palm Beach County Police Benevolent Association, told the Sun Sentinel last month.

The Jones family attorney, Benjamin Crump, said despite the charges, getting a conviction of a police officer who shoots a person of color remains difficult. Crump said if the roles had been reversed the night of the shooting, Corey Jones would be in jail today. “We have a long way to go in America to have equal justice for all,” Crump said.

Evidence in the Nouman Raja case was released Tuesday by prosecutors

The recording of Jones’ call to a roadside assistance service — which captured both Jones and Raja’s dialogue before the sounds of gunshots — is among documents and audio/video evidence released by the Palm Beach County State Attorney’s Office, in response to public records’ requests.

It generally takes up to two years after the filing of charges, like those in the Raja case, for the case to trial, said State Attorney spokesman Michael Edmondson. The charges Raja faces were filed in June. No trial date has been set yet in the Raja case, Edmondson said.

Palm Beach Gardens Police Department fired Raja after the shooting, and he is on house arrest while awaiting trial.

In addition to the criminal charges, Raja and the city of Palm Beach Gardens are the subjects of a wrongful death lawsuit filed by Jones’ family. The lawsuit calls into question the police department’s use of burglary patrols where officers didn’t wear uniforms and drove cars without police lights or other police identifiers.

The judge handling the Jones’ family lawsuit put the case on hold until the criminal case is resolved, according to attorney Scott Alexander, who represents the city of Palm Beach Gardens.

Jones, a Delray Beach housing inspector and a drummer, was leaving a performance the night his Hyundai Santa Fe broke down along the southbound I-95 off-ramp at PGA Boulevard.

Raja told investigators that he stopped about 3:15 a.m. to check on what he thought was an abandoned car. Raja told police that he identified himself as a police officer when Jones emerged from the vehicle. However, a recording of a cellphone call Jones made that night to roadside assistance reveals that Raja didn’t identify himself as an officer before opening fire, according to the State Attorney’s Office.

When Raja got out of the unmarked police van, he left behind a vest that said “Police.” Officers on patrol in plain clothes are supposed to wear those vests to identify themselves to the public, according to police.

A report from prosecutors said “no reasonable person would assume” that the white cargo van Raja drove that night was a police vehicle. And Jones’ family attorneys have said Corey Jones likely didn’t know it was a police officer approaching him.

Raja’s attorney, Richard Lubin, could not be reached for comment.

Staff writer Marc Freeman contributed to this report.

abreid@sunsentinel.com, 561-228-5504 or Twitter@abreidnews

SOURCE: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/palm-beach/fl-corey-jones-family-case-concerns-20170203-story.html

Attorneys Kweku Darfoor, of Darfoor Law Firm, and Benjamin Crump, of Parks & Crump, appearing on NewOneNow Roland Martin show to discuss the audio tape release in the shooting death of Corey Jones case.

As the 911 call begins, then-Palm Beach Gardens Police Officer Nouman Raja yells an expletive and is heard screaming for a man to drop the “gun right now!”

With Wednesday’s release of Raja’s 911 call, it’s the first time his voice is heard in a recording from the night he shot and killed stranded motorist Corey Jones, 31.

Palm Beach Gardens police released the recording from Oct. 18 in response to a nearly nine-month-old records request from the news media, allowing the public to hear the real-time conversation between Raja and the 911 operator.

During his 911 call, Raja must have known Jones had already dropped his gun, according to prosecutors. Raja phoned 911 about 33 seconds after the officer fired his final shot. And prosecutors said there’s sufficient evidence to conclude Raja had kept discharging his firearm at Jones after realizing Jones no longer had a gun.

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Raja is on house arrest on a $250,000 bond after being charged last month with manslaughter by culpable negligence and attempted first-degree murder with a firearm. A grand jury that examined the evidence — and may have heard the 911 call — found the use of force was unjustified.

911 recording in Corey Jones police shooting released; ‘I just shot one person,’ officer says
Near the start of the call from his personal cellphone, Raja reported he “got one down. I just shot one person.” He also said he was calling from an Interstate 95 southbound off ramp where he had parked his unmarked van before approaching Jones.

“Are you all right?” the male dispatcher asks.

“Yeah man, I’m good, I’m good,” replies Raja, who then about 27 seconds into the recording suddenly again yells, “drop the g…”

“Get me some units, I’ve lost contact with him, I don’t know where he is,” said Raja, who was not wearing his uniform. That night the officer had been assigned to patrol parking lots in response to vehicle burglaries.

Officer who shot Corey Jones should have worn police vest to ID himself, co-workers say

Officer who shot Corey Jones should have worn police vest to ID himself, co-workers say

Evidence in the Nouman Raja case was released Tuesday by prosecutors

Prosecutors release recording of Corey Jones’ final words in police shooting

“Alright, you got it buddy,” the operator answered.

Throughout the call, the unidentified operator repeatedly called Raja “buddy” while giving him instructions and asking for a description of the man he had just shot.

“Black male wearing all black, dreads, had a silver handgun in his right hand. I came out, I saw him come out with a handgun. I gave him commands. I identified myself and he turned, pointed the gun at me and started running. I shot him,” Raja said, before walking back to the van where he had left his police radio.

The Palm Beach Gardens Police Department, which fired the 38-year-old officer less than a month after he killed Jones, noted that before releasing the 911 call, it consulted with the Palm Beach County State Attorney’s Office.

It also said it edited out a portion of the call where Raja identified himself to the operator, because of the state’s public records law.

A second 911 recording also was released Wednesday. A female staying at the nearby DoubleTree hotel reported hearing gunshots outside her window.

“There’s a guy walking backwards, holding a gun,” the woman said, later adding that it was difficult to see because of trees blocking her view. The call ends with sirens as police arrive at the scene.

Attorneys for the family of Jones, a musician whose SUV had broken down on the way back home from a band performance, said in a statement the recordings don’t tell the story of what actually happened to their beloved son and brother from Boynton Beach.

The family points to a different recording called key to Raja’s prosecution: Jones’ cellphone call to roadside assistance during the 3:15 a.m. shooting.

Prosecutors have not yet released that recording, but they have described its contents and said it helps prove Jones’ death resulted from Raja’s “culpably negligent actions.”

In their report, investigators wrote that Raja did not identify himself as a police officer and he kept shooting, even after a “frightened” Jones ran away and longer held his licensed .380-caliber handgun. Jones’ gun was not fired.

“The release of today’s 911 tapes by Officer Raja and an unidentified witness, further proves that Raja’s narrative of what occurred on the early morning hours of October 18th is inconsistent with the objective evidence,” attorneys Daryl Parks, Benjamin Crump, Kweku Darfoor and Skinner Louis wrote in a news release.

Representing Jones’ estate and his father, Clinton Jones Sr., the attorneys on Wednesday filed a wrongful death civil lawsuit against Raja and the city of Palm Beach Gardens.

The claim for unspecified financial damages came less than two hours after the release of the 911 recordings. The lawsuit does not cite Raja’s 911 call, but it quotes the roadside assistance call transcript provided by prosecutors and contends Jones was “peacefully” waiting in his SUV and “posed no reasonable threat of physical harm” to the officer.

Jones “was not in the commission of any crime, and was in need of protection as he was stranded on the side of the I-95 with a disabled vehicle, when Defendant Raja shot him multiple times killing him. The use of force was unreasonable and clearly excessive,” the lawsuit states.

Richard Lubin, lead attorney for Raja, declined to comment Wednesday about the 911 recording.

Palm Beach County’s police union, which is helping to defend Raja, supports Raja’s statements in the 911 call about identifying himself as a cop.

After Raja was arrested and charged, the union said: “it is upsetting that a police officer — met by a subject who points a firearm at him — is not legally allowed to defend himself while in fear for his life.”

Raja has pleaded not guilty. His next court date is July 14.

Staff writer Adam Sacasa contributed to this report. mfreeman@sunsentinel.com, 561-243-6642 or Twitter @MarcJFreeman

SOURCE: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/palm-beach/fl-palm-beach-gardens-nouman-raja-911-audio-20160706-story.html

Read The Palm Beach Post’s complete coverage of Corey Jones’ shooting, MyPalmBeachPost.com/coreyjones

An audio recording of the controversial shooting of Corey Jones by a Palm Beach Gardens police officer six months ago does exist, The Palm Beach Post has learned, and it doesn’t completely match what the officer told investigators.

The recording comes from an AT&T roadside assistance line that Jones called several times from inside his broken-down SUV in the early morning of Oct. 18.

Investigators were able to recover one of the calls, which Jones dialed five minutes before he was shot and killed by plainclothes officer Nouman Raja, according to a person with knowledge of the incident.

The recorded call lasted 53 minutes before, during and after the incident, AT&T phone logs show.

It’s unclear how Raja’s statement differs from the recording, but it has raised concerns among investigators, The Post’s source said.

The case is expected to be finished soon and turned over to Palm Beach County State Attorney Dave Aronberg, who will have to make a decision on whether to charge Raja with a crime, present the case to a grand jury or not charge Raja. The recording, combined with Raja’s statement, could be critical to that decision.

State Attorney spokesman Mike Edmondson wouldn’t confirm or deny the existence of the recording, which wouldn’t become public record until the case is closed or until it becomes part of discovery in a criminal trial.

“All we can say is that it is an ongoing investigation,” Edmondson said Wednesday.

Jones, 31, was shot three times by Raja after the officer, who was on-duty but not in uniform, suddenly pulled in front of him in an unmarked van on an Interstate 95 off-ramp.

Raja told investigators that he had to shoot Jones because Jones came at him with a gun. He fired six shots. Evidence shows Jones never fired the weapon.

Raja was fired a few weeks later.

A week after the shooting, The Post reported first that Jones was on hold while awaiting a tow truck. Law enforcement officials would not say whether they had checked at that time with AT&T for the existence of a recording, but AT&T said it was cooperating with police.

The fact that a recording exists was not publicly known until now.

Jones’ family, who had been briefed by the the state attorney’s office on some details of the case, didn’t know the recording existed, they said Wednesday.

“I hope that it works in our favor,” Jones’ father, Clinton Jones Sr., said Wednesday when told of the recording. “I just want the truth to come out. I’m looking forward to it.”

Raja’s lawyer, Richard Lubin, declined to comment.

Jones made multiple calls to family members and AT&T’s roadside assistance line, #HELP, after his car stalled on the Interstate 95 off-ramp to PGA Boulevard on his way back from a gig.

Jones, a building manager for the Delray Beach Housing Authority, was also a drummer.

The last call to AT&T was at 3:10 a.m., five minutes before he was shot and killed by Raja. It’s unclear whether investigators received all of the calls Jones made to the recorded line.

The investigation is being led by the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office and includes three other law enforcement agencies, including the FBI. Prosecutors said they have interviewed more than 100 potential witnesses spanning 30 states and three countries. In the days after the shooting, the FBI was also called out to search the scene for more evidence.

The shooting received national attention, and there have been multiple protests in front of Aronberg’s office — most recently on Monday — urging him to charge Raja with a crime.

Adding to the pressure, Aronberg is up for re-election this year, although nobody has yet declared to run against him before the May 7 qualifying deadline.

Aronberg could choose to directly file charges against Raja or not, or leave the decision up to a grand jury, where the proceedings are secret. A third option, to take the case before a coroner’s inquest, hasn’t been used since 2005.

Prosecutors in Palm Beach County haven’t charged an officer in a shooting since at least 2000.

Kweku Darfoor, one of the attorneys for Jones’ family, reiterated that Jones’ family believes he would have followed any orders Raja gave him had he known Raja was a police officer.

“We believe that whatever comes out will show that Corey is exactly who we knew him to be, and that he did nothing wrong,” Darfoor said. “Now we’re finally getting a bit of information, but still waiting for the whole truth to come out.”

SOURCE: http://www.mypalmbeachpost.com/news/crime–law/source-audio-recording-corey-jones-slaying-cop-exists/hPmt8APimQZLKsWZTJSJ0K/

FORT LAUDERDALE — More than five months after his son’s death, Clinton Jones, Sr. still gets angry every time he hears someone say that police officers wouldn’t shoot if young black men would just follow the rules.

The angst in his voice cut through the sanctuary at the Fort Lauderdale Church of God in Christ Saturday morning, where he interrupted the first public panel discussion his family attorneys have organized since his son Corey Jones was killed by a now-fired Palm Beach Gardens police officer.

“I’ve been following the rules for 58 years as a black man in America,” he told the crowd of a few dozen. “The incident that happened to my son, he didn’t have an opportunity to obey any rules. I’m angry, I’m mad and I want to know how can an officer get off when he does something like that?”

The panelists, which included Jones family attorney Kweku Darfoor and McCray’s Backyard Bar-B-Que owner Derrick McCray, had answers for the Jones family but warned that it may not be what they want to hear.

FULL COVERAGE: Corey Jones shooting

Echoing the sentiments on many attorneys in South Florida’s legal community after Jones’ death made national news, the panelists agreed that statistics on officer-involved shooting make it appear unlikely that former Palm Beach Gardens officer Nouman Raja will even face criminal charges — let alone be convicted — of any criminal wrongdoing in the popular drummer’s Oct. 18 death.

In the early hours of that day, Jones was headed home from a gig as a professional drummer with the band Future Prezidents when his car broke down on the Interstate 95 exit ramp at PGA Boulevard. He was trying to get a tow truck to bring his car home when Raja, wearing plainclothes and driving an unmarked van, drove up to his car and got out.

According to police officials, Raja said he shot Jones soon afterward because the 31-year-old came at him with a gun. But his family members say they believe Jones, who by day worked as a property manager for the Delray Beach Housing Authority, was actually trying to run away from Raja when the officer shot him.

Clinton Jones, Sr., who has seldom spoken publicly over the past five months, wondered aloud Saturday how his son’s case fits into the “follow the rules” phrase that has been the source of national debates on deadly encounters between police and mostly black youth. The Joneses and their attorneys have been adamant for five months in their belief that Corey Jones died without knowing Raja was a police officer.

“The ‘following the rules’ thing is a myth,” Darfoor said, comparing the downtown Fort Lauderdale neighborhood surrounding the church with the more affluent suburb of Weston. “They will not give somebody in this neighborhood three and four chances. Most of the time, the ‘rules’ are selectively enforced, and it’s a tool to be used against only some people.”

Saturday’s event was just the second formal public event Jones’ immediate family has hosted since he died. Jones’ brother, Clinton “CJ” Jones, Jr., last year co-hosted a music festival in Corey’s honor along with Future Presidentz frontman Boris Simeonov. They and others have been holding vigils at a makeshift memorial set up in the grass off the exit ramp, the most recent of which was Friday to mark the five-month anniversary of Corey’s death.

In the meantime, they are awaiting the end of a criminal investigation into the actions of Raja, who was on probation with the Palm Beach Gardens Police Department at the time of the shooting and has since been fired.

Palm Beach County State Attorney Dave Aronberg said last month an investigation has yielded more than 100 witness interviews in 30 states and three countries in connection with the shooting, which happened near Palm Beach Gardens’ Embassy Suites hotel.

FBI officials as of last month were still analyzing the scene and performing ballistics testing. Experts say a key part of the investigation will be to determine whether Jones was trying to run away from Raja when he fired the fatal shot.

Raja fired six times and hit Jones with three bullets, including a fatal shot that entered through his side and lodged in his heart.

SOURCE: http://www.mypalmbeachpost.com/news/crime–law/five-months-after-corey-jones-death-father-still-looking-for-answers/EDNeJCg2E7vTLwGcnP5NEN/