Crime & Law

New Trial Ordered in Lawsuit Brought by Family of Harith Augustus, Who Was Killed in 2018 Chicago Police Shooting

An Illinois appeals court has ordered a new trial in a wrongful death case brought by the family of Harith Augustus, who was shot and killed by a Chicago police officer during an encounter in South Shore in July 2018.

The appellate ruling comes nearly three years after a Cook County jury ruled in favor of the police officers in deciding the civil suit. But in its ruling, the appellate court found that attorneys representing the city of Chicago improperly used pretrial challenges to exclude two Black potential jurors.

The court in its ruling found that the city’s use of peremptory challenges during the jury selection process to exclude two Black people based on their race “is a violation of the equal protection clause of the federal and Illinois constitutions.”

Peremptory challenges allow parties at trial to remove potential jurors without stating a specific reason why. However, such exclusions made solely on the basis of the potential juror’s race, ethnicity or gender are unconstitutional.

“We are thrilled that the Appellate Court … saw the injustice of the first trial and ordered a new one,” Renee Spence, an attorney with the Loevy and Loevy law firm representing Augustus’ family, said in a statement. “The family deserves justice for Mr. Augustus’s senseless death, and these officers — who recklessly and needlessly caused it — should be held accountable.”

In a statement, a spokesperson for the city’s Law Department on Monday said they “strongly disagree with the court’s decision, which is not supported by the factual record or the governing legal standards.” 

The department is “considering next steps,” the spokesperson said. 

Augustus, who was Black, was fatally shot by CPD officer Dillan Halley, who is White. The killing sparked protests as body camera footage of the shooting was made public.

The initial footage released by CPD included an edited clip showing four officers approaching Augustus, who worked as a barber, on a sidewalk on July 14, 2018. Augustus can be seen backing off and spinning away from the officers before running into the street, at which point the video freezes to show what appeared to be a firearm holstered on Augustus’ right side.

He was then shot by Halley. The Civilian Office of Police Accountability later released more video and audio clips of the shooting. That footage was used in “Incident,” an Academy Award-nominated documentary that retold the story of Augustus’ killing.

COPA later determined the officers who surrounded Augustus “clearly demonstrated a lack of clarity regarding how to engage.”

“Furthermore,” COPA stated in its report on the shooting, “their lack of understanding led to an escalation of the encounter which may well have impacted the ultimate, tragic outcome.”

Attorneys for Augustus’ family called him a “beloved fixture” of the South Shore neighborhood whose death “rocked” the community. They also noted that the judge who presided over the initial trial in this case had granted a motion from the defense barring arguments that the shooting was racially motivated.

“In the first trial, the court failed to give proper weight to the racial realities of not just this case, but the world in which we live,” Scott Rauscher, an attorney for the Augustus family, said in a statement. “We’re pleased the Appellate Court has given us another opportunity to seek justice for Mr. Augustus through a new trial.”

Note: Loevy and Loevy, the firm representing the Augustus family, has done legal work for WTTW News.

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