Milwaukee, WI
D'Vontaye Mitchell death: What comes next?
What comes next after D’Vontaye Mitchell’s autopsy report completed
The Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s Office found employees responsible for the June 30 death of D’vontaye Mitchell at the Hyatt Regency hotel downtown.
MILWAUKEE – The Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s Office found employees responsible for the June 30 death of D’vontaye Mitchell at the Hyatt Regency hotel downtown.
Now, prosecutors will decide where the case goes from here.
The Milwaukee Police Department recommended four people be charged with felony murder on July 5, but prosecutors stated they needed Mitchell’s autopsy results before making a decision.
A widow’s wait for justice could soon be over.
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“They could’ve just waited on the police,” Mitchell’s widow, DeAsia Harmon, said on Friday. “You beat him to death. That’s horrible. For 15 minutes.”
Friday, the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled the 43-year-old’s death a homicide by restraint asphyxia and the toxic effects of cocaine and methamphetamine. It means Mitchell couldn’t breathe because of the way his body was positioned.
Now, University of Wisconsin law professor John Gross said he thinks prosecutors will act quickly.
“You have somebody who’s resisting, but they’re resisting in a passive way,” Gross said. “When he’s prone on the ground, and what we see doesn’t indicate any type of active physical violence toward any of the other people who are trying to drag him out of the hotel […] the repeated punching in his face is very difficult, I think, to justify as necessary to achieve some other objective.”
But Gross pointed out the felony murder charge police recommended against four people is interesting in Wisconsin, because state law essentially defines it as a sentence enhancer.
“So, even if they had no intention of causing the death of someone, if a death resulted during the course of the commission of another felony, then they can charge felony murder,” he said.
Prosecutors would have to charge the defendants with one of 13 other crimes, like misdemeanor battery, to then tack on felony murder.
That would allow the judge to add up to 15 years to a sentence.
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Though Gross said it puts the judge in a precarious position.
“How will that signal to the victim’s family, to the community, to everybody involved, the seriousness of the behavior and the result?” he asked.
As part of plans for a protest outside the district attorney’s office on Monday, Aug. 5, the Mitchell family said it wants prosecutors to bring first-degree intentional homicide charges against the now-former Hyatt employees.