Why did Scarsella get 15 years for shooting 5? Because he's white, critics say
Allen Scarsella got nearly the sentence Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman wanted for shooting five people at a protest over the police killing of Jamar Clark.
Yet as Freeman tried telling reporters he was pleased with the sentencing, and that he had pressed the harshest charges possible, he got cut off.
"No you did not Mike Freeman," said Cameron Clark, Jamar's cousin and one of Scarsella's victims. "He should've been hit with [attempted] murder ... please don't lie in front of these people, 'cause I could've been dead." A bullet nearly missed one of Clark's main arteries.
Scarsella, who is white, got 15 years in prison. Freeman asked for 20.
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"If that was me, I would've been looking at 25-30," said Clark, who, along with Scarsella's other four victims, is black.
Freeman maintained that he and his team brought the stiffest charges possible, and that they even amended the complaint when new information came to light. He condemned the actions by Scarsella and others with him.
Three other men were involved in the confrontation along with Scarsella. All were charged, but one has since had his charges dropped.
For her part, Laura Heinrich, Scarsella's public defender, said her client has remorse for the pain he caused. She also argued he'd shot in self-defense, and that he may face violence while in prison because prosecutors said the shooting was racially motivated.
Scarsella will have to serve at least 10 years of his sentence in prison.
That sentencing is "completely unacceptable," said Cathy Jones, the Minneapolis NAACP vice president. She and others suggested there should have been hate crime or attempted murder charges for the shooting. Some called for a federal investigation.
"Time and time again, black men, black women, black people in general are never realized as victims when something happens to us," she said. "Enough is enough."
Tuesday's sentencing hearing came some 17 months after Jamar Clark was killed by a Minneapolis police officer.
Inside the courtroom sat James Clark, the adoptive father of Jamar, and Cameron's grandfather. He told the court something needs to change to give African Americans rights under the law.
"Whatever they do to a black person, they want to go around, say in a way they deserved it. Just because they black, you know, they don't deserve no rights," he said. "We all deserve rights."