This petition is to request that Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine be removed or recuse himself from the James Scurlock case due to bias and that a Special Prosecutor is assigned to take any and all relevant evidence to a Grand Jury.

Around 11 p.m, May 31st, 2020, James Scurlock was shot and killed at the 1200 block of Harney Street, by Jake Gardner, owner of the Gatsby and The Hive bars. Per Kleine, Gardner's father initiated a physical confrontation with protestors, which included James Scurlock, and Gardner intervened. 

The rush to announce no charges is reminiscent of the Ahmaud Arbery case where a district attorney chose to only present evidence favorable to the suspects.  Mr. Kleine's slavish concern for the suspect, lack of forthrightness about Gardner's extensive criminal record, while bringing up a misdemeanor by Scurlock, per Kleine as that was not material to the case, made Mr. Kleine appear to be acting as Gardner's defense. The decision not to present gun charges made Mr. Kleine's words of sympathy ring hollow and gave the appearance that black men can be murdered with impunity.  Fear cannot be the sole standard for self-defense. Mr. Kleine has lost the confidence of the black community of Omaha that he is unbiased or capable of rendering justice in this case.  We ask that he for the sake of fairness recuse himself or be removed so that a Special Prosecutor can be assigned and confidence in Douglass County's legal system can be restored. 

A prosecutor should know and abide by the standards of professional conduct as expressed in applicable law. The prosecutor should avoid any appearance of impropriety in performing the prosecution function, nor restrain the Grand Jury from considering charges by asserting that the government will not prosecute nor dismiss a criminal charge pending before it when exculpatory evidence could be obtained but won’t be without a prosecutor’s intervention.