Federal prosecutors will not bring charges against the former Chicago police officer convicted in state court of killing Black teenager Laquan McDonald.
The decision to stand down on a federal prosecution of Jason Van Dyke was made in consultation with McDonald’s family and weighed the greater difficulty in securing another conviction, U.S. Attorney John Lausch said.
“The federal law presents a very high bar – more stringent than the state charges on which Mr. Van Dyke was convicted,” Lausch said in a written statement.
The former police officer was found guilty of second-degree murder and aggravated battery in 2018, marking the first time an on-duty Chicago police officer was convicted for the killing of a Black person.
Van Dyke was sentenced to seven years in state prison but released earlier this year.
