02/07/2023
Mourning Tyre Nichols
Dear CPDA members,
The California Public Defenders Association joins the family and the nation in grieving the death of Tyre Nichols. The degradation of human life that stains the nation's history of policing is a seemingly never ending American tragedy. We have asked and we ask again that our humanity be recognized.
Worthy laws have been enacted that were intended to protect against the abuse of power, yet they have failed many, as they failed Tyre Nichols. While we grieve, defenders cannot help but see in the extreme abuse of power by which Tyre Nichols lost his life, a tragic difference in degree but not of kind. The disconnect between the law on the books and the law on the streets is too familiar to us. Still, we continue the struggle for respect for human life and equal justice under the law.
In partnership,
Graciela Martinez, President
California Public Defenders Association
