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Parents Reject Jury' Decision In Son's Death

By Leonard E. Colvin
Chief Reporter
New Journal & Guide

   A special grand jury inpaneled by Norfolk’s Commonwealth Attorney to look into the shooting death of James “Gucci” Dennis by two Norfolk police officers, decided not to indict after a day and a half of listening to over 20 witnesses.
     Court records said one of the two officers, Norfolk Policeman William Minshew, who fired the shot that killed 21-year-old Dennis late last October, was not charged with  first degree murder and use of a firearm, according to a release dispatched to the media, dated  March 13.
     Norfolk Commonwealth Attorney Jack Doyle, last month, summoned the special seven-member grand jury when he noted “conflicts” in the eyewitness reports which described events leading up to the fatal shooting. Civilians, like Dominique Jones, who witnessed the shooting from her home off Newtown Road, said that Dennis had his hands up and his back turned to the policemen who approached and told him to drop his weapon.
     The officers said they were investigating an incident at a residence off Newtown Road and heard shots firing. When they approached Dennis in a vacant lot, he was firing at an unknown object.  The police demanded that he  drop his weapon and hit the ground. They said that Dennis then turned and pointed his weapon. Fearing for their safety, they fired, fatally striking him.
       Dennis’ parents did not agree with the seven-member panel decision.
       Sharon Gorham,  Dennis’ mother, who sat outside the conference room of the Norfolk Circuit Court building where the grand jury was deliberating, noted that the two officers were cleared by a mostly white jury.
      The Norfolk Sheriff’s Department verified that initially the jury was all-white.  But when one of the panelists was discovered to be the wife of a Norfolk police officer, she was stricken from the jury.

  The presiding judge ordered that an African American then be placed on the jury, according to Bonita Harris, the press spokesperson for the  Norfolk Sheriff’s Office which organizes jury candidate selection.

Posted March 19, 2008

   “I always thought that a jury should be composed of a group of your peers,” said Sharon Gorham. “The grand jury was mostly elderly and with one black woman in her 40s. I do not think that justice was done. The perception of police in this community differs between Blacks and Whites in Norfolk. I think a more diversified jury would have been more sensitive to what happened to my son.”
     Mrs. Gorham said her son could have been firing his gun to ward off a car full of young men who were engaged in some form of dispute with Dennis and two of his friends.  She said one of the young men who was her son’s closest friend and may have witnessed all of the details related to the shooting did not testify before the grand jury. She said he said he was afraid of retaliation from police.
     James Bailey, who is the legal redress chair of the Virginia Beach NAACP, organized a protest march earlier this month from the King Monument on Church Street to the  steps of City Hall where participants spoke before Norfolk City Council about the incident.
     Bailey said the march symbolized the displeasure from the black community with the exoneration of white police officers in cases where they have shot to death black men. He said local black activists  have long demanded that a neutral community-based citizens review board be commissioned to look into incidents where police use deadly force against citizens.
     Sharon Gorham said her family has not defined their next move. They said they were awaiting the release of the police department’s investigation into the conduct of the two white officers.

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