Justice for Ariston
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  • A Demand for Justice

    Nineteen-year-old black youth Ariston Waiters was shot twice through his spine at point-blank range by former Union City Police Officer Luther Lewis. Waiters was unarmed, yet a Special Grand Jury declined to indict. New evidence confirms that Waiters' death could not be justified. His family, friends, and supporters demand Justice for Ariston!

  • Cover-Up of Murdered Black Youth Ariston
    Waiters by Union City Police Chief

    It has been more than three years since Freda Waiters’ only child, Ariston, was slain on the street of Atlanta’s Union City. Today, she is one step closer to finding out why. On December 14, 2011, nineteen year-old black youth Ariston Waiters received two bullets through the back of his spine, both fired at point-blank range. Waiters was unarmed; his assailant, Luther Lewis, a white Union City police officer with a history of disciplinary incidents, documented as PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder). By the time the case reached the Fulton County grand jury, however, Lewis’ disciplinary file was empty. It remains so to this day.
     
    District Attorney Paul Howard is responsible for the prosecution of all felony violations in Fulton County, Georgia, where Union City is located. Homicide of any variety is a felony – without statute of limitations. In office since 1997, Howard is charged with presenting each case to an unbiased grand jury on behalf of the State of Georgia. The grand jury is secret, except when the subject of the inquiry is an officer of the law. Both Lewis and his counsel were present at the grand jury, who determined there was not enough evidence to return a Bill of Indictment against the officer.

     

    Ariston Waiters had been placed face to ground, hands over head. Lewis’ knee pressed firmly into Waiters’ back. With one handcuff on, the officer called in a Code 4 – “no assistance needed.” Even without the handcuffs, the one hundred thirty-five pound teen was no match for the Iraqi war veteran. When the officer reached for his other hand, Lewis said that Waiters resisted, instead, reaching for his gun. Georgia Bureau of Investigations (GBI) Forensics’ notes the lack of traction marks to indicate any resistance or struggle.

    Freda Waiters remembers Howard’s words to her before the hearing, “Luther Lewis meant to shoot your son. He admits it. But, don’t be surprised if there is no indictment because the grand jury just loves our police officers. There are times when there’s evidence that an officer is guilty, but the grand jury will still give them a pass.” And, it did.
    Deacon Joe Beasley, Freda Waiters, and Investigator TJ Ward at the Fulton DA's Office.

     

    Somehow, even testimony from FBI Expert Witness Michael Levine, which irrefutably put the blame on Lewis and documented gross inconsistencies in the officer’s account, could not bring forth an indictment.
     
    “I've maintained a good relationship with DA Paul Howard over time,” states Deacon and renown human rights activist Joe Beasley, “but I’ve been very suspicions. It’s just disheartening that a two-hundred-fifty pound officer can kill a young unarmed black teenager without repercussion.” Beasley knows the territory; he retired as a US Air Force police superintendent after twenty-one years of service and is presently Southern Regional Director of the National Rainbow / PUSH (People United to Serve Humanity) Coalition.
     
    A civil wrongful death action, filed against Union City on behalf of Waiter’s newborn daughter, proved more successful. Ajaleh Waiters was awarded $750,000.
     


    Money, however, did not satisfy Freda Waiters. “It was never about money,” she says, “I can’t stop fighting until I get justice for Ariston.” Beasley has stood beside Freda Waiters throughout the ordeal, “I admire her tenacity, and the love she has for her only son. I wish that other families would not give up. Freda is an example to follow.”
     
    In 2013, she sought out and hired private investigator T.J. Ward, a veteran internal affairs officer. Ward launched his own law enforcement
    career as a Union City police detective. “I knew some of the officers personally,” maintains Ward. “These were good men and would talk to me truthfully.”

    Ward recorded the conversations, documenting an intentional cover-up of the facts surrounding Ariston Waiter’s death; Georgia's wiretapping law permits “one-party consent” for purposes of making audio recordings of conversations. He also scoured through more than 4,500 pages of discovery in the case.
     
    There’s no question that Lewis is lying about what happened that day,” Ward states confidently. “It’s impossible for the events that were documented by the officer to have actually taken place.” With more than thirty-five years experience, Ward has testified as an expert on police procedure. "When a young man such as Ariston is senselessly killed, and the internal system of inquiry fails to act in accordance, it brings distrust from the community toward law enforcement officers who are there to protect."

    "There is nothing I dislike more than a dishonest public servant," states Ward. "When you swear an oath to uphold the law, it means for everyone."
     
    According to former Union City Sargent Michael Burdette, “[Police Chief Chuck] Odom knew what happened. He’d boasted that Luther Lewis would be in jail now if it weren’t for him covering it up. He knew we’d tell the truth, so no one asked [us].” Burdette continued, “If an officer were to have filed a report, they’d have lost their job – or worse. If you weren’t in Odom’s inner circle, he’d find a way to terminate you. I must have seen at least twenty [officers] terminated without cause.” Burdette, himself, was such a statistic.

    “Odom would file a C-11 [Change of Status Form] and get your POST record revoked. Then you’d never be able to get police work anymore.” The Georgia Peace Officer Standards and Training Council, or POST Certification, is required before the first day of a police officer’s sworn service. “He’d even threatened to take away their pensions,” stated Burdette. In his own defense, Burdette fought back, filing an EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) action against the department – and won.
     
    “This is a case that even on its face demands re-opening,” proclaimed Ward. Yet, Ward’s letters and calls to Howard went without response. In February, Beasley arranged a meeting with Howard to discuss such an inquiry, on behalf of Waiters and Ward. When the three met with Howard, the DA admitted to them knowledge of a previous cover-up involving Union City Police Chief Chuck Odom; one which as DA he sought no legal intervention. Their consensus was that even with new revelations, Howard would still not act.

    Ward brought the recordings to Special Agent James Hosty of the FBI’s Atlanta Bureau. Hosty was the agent initially assigned to the inquiry, but the agency allowed the GBI to take the lead in the investigation, and closed the case the Fulton County grand jury failed to indict. Yet, neither Burdette nor other Union City officers with first-hand knowledge were ever interviewed by the GBI.

     

    Ward then presented copies of the evidence and recordings to WSB television and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, who began their own investigation, confirming Ward’s findings.

    When the media began making specific inquiries over the past week and followed up with interviews of numerous officers, past and present, named from Ward’s investigation, Howard quickly re-opened the case. “All of the signs were there all along,” comments Waiters.

    “If Odom had done his job and taken Lewis off the street, my son would still be here.” She intends to drive this point home at the Union City Council Meeting on May 19, asking for his resignation. “I’ve invited the community of Union City and Georgia civil right leaders to attend and participate.”

     

    “The Chief of Police should resign now – and should be in jail,” Beasley adds. He also faults the present grand jury system in this, and many other such cases, pointing out legislation proposed in Congress January 2015 by Georgia Fourth District Representative Hank Johnson as a remedy. Johnson’s “Grand Jury Reform Act, H.R. 429,” requires the appointment of a special prosecutor to conduct an investigation and present the results to a judge in a probable cause hearing, open to the public, whenever a police officer kills an individual while acting in the line of duty. It further specifies that in order for local law enforcement agencies to receive federal funding, they would have to comply with the process.

     

    Freda Waiters talks nightly to son through prayer. “I am forever saying, I miss you so much. I thank God, and ask Him to give Ariston a hug for me.” While Burdette wishes he acted sooner, he believes that Waiters will finally get the closure she deserves. “I want her to know that all white police officer are not bad,” says Burdette. “I’m am very sorry that it happened to her son.”

  • Grand Jury Duties Subverted in Ariston Waiters Murder Case

    A Fulton County Grand Jury declined to indict Union City police officer Luther Lewis on August 8, 2015 for the December 14, 2011 murder of 19-year-old Ariston Waiters. Lewis was attempting to arrest Waiters without probable cause that he had been involved in any crime. Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard stated that the arrest was “illegal.” Evidence and Luther’s own testimony showed Luther pulled his gun and shot Waiters in the back twice. Mr. Waiters was face down on the ground with his hands behind his back while being handcuffed.


    This was the second grand jury inquiry into the Waiters case. Howard reopened the case after news media investigations revealed that four incidents involving Luther had been removed from his file and not presented to the first grand jury and that DNA evidence did not support the claim by Lewis that Waiters touched his gun. The DNA results and facts involving the Union City police record cover-up were presented to the second grand jury.


    But both grand juries, like many others around the country, could not have been properly informed of their duties by the prosecutors and Superior Court judges. Georgia code for grand jurors explains that “…it is their duty as jurors to make presentments of any violations of the laws which they may know to have been committed at any previous time which are not barred by the statute of limitations.” [O.C.G.A. 15-12-74] In the Waiters case, there was no real dispute that violations occurred. By failing to indict Lewis with a “True bill” for any type of violation committed, the grand jury did not fulfill its obligations.

    Only public officials have a right to defend themselves before a grand jury. That is inconsistent with equal protection clauses of the U.S. and Georgia Constitutions. Private Investigator T.J. Ward stated that Lewis testified for an hour and 45 minutes including emotional subjects such as his medical problems and military service.

     

    These subjects are immaterial for the purpose of deciding whether or not to indict a defendant. That type of evidence is introduced during the course of a normal trial after a “True Bill” decision. The grand jury “No Bill” leaves Ariston Waiters’ family, including mother Freda and young daughter, no opportunity to seek justice in a state court.

    Former Police Chief and Judge, Paul Nally, a leading expert on Georgia grand juries explained: “This case demonstrates the problems associated with grand jurors not properly understanding or being properly informed of their statutory duties. Ordinarily, defense topics not directly related to the charges in question should be left to the inquiry of a trial jury except in cases where there is an abuse of government police power."

     

    "Additionally," Nally continues, "the grand jury could have returned a Presentment on a lesser included charge. Furthermore, it appears that the Jurors were not informed of, or allowed to entertain an inquiry into, the possible criminal negligence of the governmental corporation for which Lewis worked.”

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  • Latest Press and Media Coverage

    DA Reopens Case of Unarmed Teen’s Shooting

    May 18, 2015

    FBI Probe Into Cover-Up Claim After White Cop Shot Black Teenager

    May 20, 2015

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    May 27, 2015

    Shot in the Back:
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    August 5, 2015

    New Grand Jury Hears Case Against Officer Who Shot Unarmed Teen in Back

    August 5, 2015

    Ariston Waiters Grand Jury Convenes in Atlanta

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    August 6, 2015

    Mom Vows to Fight After Jury Clears Officer in Son's Shooting

    August 7, 2015

    Second Grand Jury Clears Cop In Ariston Waiters’ Death:
    “We Must Continue To Fight”

    August 7, 2015

    Fulton DA May Ask Feds to Review Police Slaying of Unarmed Black Teen

    August 7, 2015

    U.S. Attorney Looking Into Police Shooting of Unarmed Man

    August 14, 2015

    Prosecutors Seek to Curtail Grand Jury Privilege for Police

    October 16, 2015

    Law Change Could Limit Special Treatment for Officers

    October 16, 2015
  • Join in the Conversation

    Add your own voice to these articles:
     
    No Indictment for Georgia Officer in Shooting of Teen in 2011
    August 7, 2015
    UNION CITY, Ga. — A grand jury cleared a former police officer of criminal charges more than three years after shooting and killing an unarmed teenager. Late Thursday evening a Fulton County grand jury voted not to indict former Union City police Officer Luther Lewis on any charges. This is the...
     
    Fulton DA to Take Police Shooting Case to Grand Jury
    May 28, 2015
    Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard pledged Wednesday to “hold someone accountable” in the 2011 shooting death of an unarmed black teenager by a white Union City Police officer and re-present the three-year-old case to a criminal grand jury. “What we plan to do is present the evidence...
     
    Expert: No DNA Evidence Teen Grabbed Officer’s Gun before Shooting
    May 25, 2015
    ATLANTA — A Channel 2 Action News and Atlanta Journal-Constitution investigation into the 2011 shooting death of an unarmed teenager by a Union City police officer has revealed new details about the DNA evidence in the case. Ariston Waiters died from two gunshot wounds to his back after...
     
    FBI Probe Into Cover-Up Claim
    May 24, 2015
    Ariston Waiters died after he was shot twice as he was arrested by Officer Luther Lewis of Union City PD, Georgia 19-year-old black man was face down and being handcuffed when Lewis claims there was a struggle and teen reached for his gun But new evidence raises questions about 2011 shooting...
     
    Please Join the Family in their Quest for Justice
    May 23, 2015
    Paul Howard, Fulton County Ga.'s, elected District Attorney has re-opened the case of the murder of an unarmed Black teen, Ariston Waiters, by a white Union City officer, Luther Lewis, citing "new evidence." But, who knew what? And when did they know it? Ariston Waiters was shot (TWICE) in the...
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  • Please Write to Us

    Legal counsel for Ariston Waiters is provided by:
     
    Attorney Bryant Green, III
    303 Peachtree St., NE
    Suite 4100
    Atlanta, GA 30308
    404-522-5330
     
    Confidential tips about this case can be made to:
     
    Private Investigator T.J. Ward
    P.O. Box 3494
    Alpharetta, GA 30023
    404-932-4016
     
    You can send a private message directly to Freda Waiters, Ariston's mother
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