The government is trying to take away the three children of a Mississippi woman after her young son was shot in the chest last year. It is bitterly ironic that it was the government – not her mother, Nakala Murry, or anyone in her company – who did the shooting.
In May 2023, Aderrien Murry, then 11, called 911, reportedly at her mother’s behest, after her ex-boyfriend, John Nolden, showed up at their home and allegedly began molesting her. But after the arrival of Greg Capers, a police officer in Indianola, Mississippi, things quickly escalated further.
After hearing Capers’ order to leave, Aderrien entered the living room. Almost immediately thereafter, Capers shot him, leaving the boy with a collapsed lung, a fractured rib and a lacerated liver. (Body camera footage is available Here. Judge for yourself whether you think the shooting was justified.)
Although Capers was suspended without pay as of June, he is still an employee of the Indianola Police Department. A grand jury declined to indict him in December. But the consequences could still come. For Nakala Murry.
According to Gwendolyn Jimison, prosecutor for Sunflower County, Mississippi, an anonymous witness claims that Nolden assaulted Nakala Murry on multiple occasions and the 911 call that night was therefore “the result of domestic violence between mother and boyfriend occurring for years”. [sic],” reported THE Mississippi Free Pressthat broke this story.
This logic could be verified if Nolden was the one who pulled the trigger. But in this case it seems that the government wants to punish a victim for a mistake made by one of its agents. “Sgt Capers is happy that the child is recovering and is very sorry for what happened,” said his lawyer, Michael Carr. She said in a statement last June. Police officers are human and will make mistakes. But it is bizarre, to put it simply, to further punish those who suffered that mistake, especially considering that Capers had been sent to help.
“To even have to think about losing her children at this point over something that’s not her fault is just unbelievable,” Carlos Moore, Nakala Murry’s attorney, told the Mississippi Free printing on Thursday. “It’s wacky.”
Shortly after the shooting, Murry filed a federal lawsuit against Capers, the police chief, the city of Indianola and other unidentified officers. However, he may have trouble going before a jury, as he will have to defeat qualified immunity, the legal doctrine that protects state and local employees from civil suits unless their misconduct has been established squarely in a previous court , as well as IL Many doctrine, which protects municipalities from liability if the plaintiff is unable to demonstrate that there was an existing policy on the books that specifically green-lighted the alleged government misconduct.
It’s another reminder of how difficult it is for victims of government mistakes and abuse to get any semblance of justice. Yet, in cases like Murry’s, we are reminded that the reverse standard exists for the public. So on April 17 she will have to appear in Sunflower County Juvenile Court and, in a way, explain why Capers’ mistake shouldn’t cost her her children.