Charlotte-Mecklenburg district attorney Peter Gilchrist has heard public pleas for an outside entity to investigate the CMPD shooting of Aaron Winchester and has invited in the State Bureau of Investigation. This should be SOP in all fatal police shootings. And it will be from now on.
The 2007 change in state law basically taking the local DA out of the loop in deciding if and when the SBI investigates a law enforcement shooting will mean that local law enforcement no longer investigates local law enforcement.
Gilchrist could have been ahead of the curve on this common sense approach to maintaining public faith in the criminal justice system he serves. He opted not to be.
