Court hearing opens on Jamiel Shaw murder by alleged illegal immigrant gang member
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Two witnesses gave dramatic accounts yesterday of how a standout high school football player was gunned down earlier this year near his Los Angeles home, opening a tense courtroom hearing packed with relatives of the victim and the alleged gunman, reports The Times’ Jack Leonard.
Jamiel Shaw II, 17, was talking to his girlfriend on a cellphone when she overheard a voice ask him, ‘Where are you from?’ the teenage girl testified. There was no response and then the line went dead, she said.
The case of the slain teenager has sparked a heated debate about the LAPD’s Special Order 40, which states that police officers cannot stop people for the sole purpose of asking about immigration status. The football star’s alleged murderer is an alleged Latino gang member who authorities say was in the United States illegally.
We gave readers the chance to vote on Special Order 40 here, and in this La Plaza post you can read a series of reports and columns from The Times on reactions to the proposed changes to the rule.
-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City