Tuesday, April 18, 2023 | news
On Monday, prosecutors in Clay County, Missouri charged 84-year-old Andrew Lester in the near-fatal shooting of Ralph Yarl, a 16-year-old Black child who accidentally rang Lester’s doorbell while trying to pick up his younger siblings. According to law enforcement, preliminary evidence shows that Lester fired on the teen through a glass door, shooting him in […]
Tuesday, July 14, 2020 | news
Janai Nelson, the Associate Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) issued the following statement regarding the record-breaking number of absentee ballot requests, low voter turnout, and poll worker shortages during today’s Alabama primary and runoff election: “Alabama received more than 43,000 absentee ballot requests – an unprecedented amount – in […]
Thursday, January 24, 2013 | news
Today, President Obama announced his proposals in response to the Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut. They contain many positive elements for addressing the root causes of violence in communities and also acknowledged the importance of positive interventions for ensuring school safety long advocated by the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. Unfortunately, the […]
Monday, May 23, 2016 | news
Today’s acquittal of Baltimore Police Officer Edward Nero on all four charges brought against him for his role in the death of Freddie Gray demonstrates the difficulties in holding officers accountable for in-custody deaths of unarmed citizens. Prosecutors in this case presented arguments that Officer Nero’s arrest of Freddie Gray without probable cause was criminal. […]
Friday, October 10, 2025 | news
Legal Defense Fund (LDF) President and Director-Counsel Janai S. Nelson issued the below statement in response to the indictment of New York Attorney General Leticia James. Reportedly, the indictment is part of the Trump administration’s attempts to prosecute the perceived political opponents of the president. Attorney General James won a civil fraud case against President […]
Monday, September 20, 2021 | news
Today, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) and Texas attorneys Maurie Levin and Don Bailey, filed a cert petition in the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of Andre Thomas, a Black man sentenced to death by an all-white jury featuring three members who openly expressed racial bias that was directly implicated by […]
Monday, April 5, 2021 | news
Today, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Inc (LDF), sent a letter to the Department of Justice requesting the release of the DOJ’s reform assessment of the North Charleston Police Department. The DOJ’s commitment to the North Charleston community remains incomplete while incidents of police violence and other misconduct by NCPD officers continue. It has been […]
Tuesday, September 20, 2016 | news
Today, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) sent a letter to Kevin Kamenetz, Baltimore County Police Department (BCoPD) Executive, to request that several key aspects of the police department’s practices be subject to an independent review following the police-involved shooting death of Korryn Gaines on August 1, 2016. Resource: Letter to Baltimore County Police […]
Sunday, October 6, 2019 | news
The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) is requesting an independent investigation of the shooting death of Joshua Brown. Mr. Brown was a key witness in the trial of Amber Guyger, the former Dallas Police Department officer who walked into Botham Jean’s home and shot him to death. The murder of Botham Jean has […]
Thursday, December 6, 2018 | news
The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) today sent a letter to Jay E. Town, U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Alabama, requesting a federal investigation of the police shooting of E.J. Bradford, Jr. Bradford was shot and killed at a mall outside of Birmingham, Alabama on Thanksgiving […]
