A judge has approved a request by Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate a fatal police shooting in Kansas City.
St. Louis County Prosecutor Wesley Bell’s office has appointed Rachel Smith as special prosecutor to determine if the shooting of 31-year-old Malcolm Johnson in March was justified. She says her office had charged Johnson in a 2014 fatal shooting, and she was concerned that previous interaction with Johnson could be seen as a conflict of interest in the shooting investigation.
A group of Kansas City clergy and civil rights advocates is questioning the police department's version of Johnson's shooting.
