What's Next for the Stephon Clark Case

The morning after protests roiled Sacramento and local clergy implored him to do the opposite, California’s attorney general, Xavier Becerra, announced that he would not bring criminal charges against the two officers who shot and killed Stephon Clark, a 22-year-old black man, in his grandmother’s backyard about a year ago.

“Our investigation can’t change what has happened,” he said.

Becerra’s announcement Tuesday came days after the Sacramento district attorney, Anne Marie Schubert, said her office wouldn’t prosecute the officers, although Becerra said the two offices came to their conclusions independently.

Clark’s death has been a flash point in California, where it’s the latest version of a tragic story line that has played out across the country: An unarmed young black man is killed by police officers who said they believed he had a gun and believed their lives were in danger.

Here’s what you need to know about the case:

What’s next?

The legal fights are far from over. In January, Clark’s family filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against the city and the two officers.

And federal authorities announced later Tuesday that they would investigate whether Clark’s civil rights had been violated.

Also, after protests Monday night ended in 84 arrests of demonstrators and the detainment of a longtime Sacramento Bee reporter, Mayor Darrell Steinberg directed the city’s public safety accountability office to investigate what happened. Protesters said they’d been effectively tricked and trapped by police officers when they said they were trying to get to cars to leave.

What does this mean for the attorney general?

Becerra has a powerful, high-profile elected office in a progressive state — an office that has historically been a springboard for leaders with even bigger political ambitions, like former Gov. Jerry Brown and Sen. Kamala Harris.

But while Becerra has become well-known for leading the state’s fights against President Donald Trump’s agenda, suing the administration now 47 times, he’s been less aggressive about policing the police, as CALmatters put it.

Recently, he’s taken heat for not ruling out legal action against journalists who got a list of police officers who had been convicted of crimes through a public records request.

This all comes amid growing discussion about what truly progressive criminal justice policies look like. The question of whether Becerra’s predecessor, Harris, can effectively pitch herself as a “progressive prosecutor” has been up for intense debate as she runs for president.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.