SACRAMENTO, Calif. _ An 8-foot-tall chain-link fence went up last April around the Sacramento County district attorney's office, weeks after police shot Stephon Clark, an unarmed black man whose cellphone they mistook for a gun. Demonstrators surrounded cars and blocked the front doors, chanting "Shut it down!" as other chaotic protests erupted across the capital city.
Almost a year after Clark was killed, the fence has become a psychological barrier as much as a physical one, the last reminder of the frustration, distrust and combustible race tensions that are threatening to boil over again.
Sacramento County District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert and California Attorney General Xavier Becerra are expected to release reports on the criminal liability of the two officers who fired 20 rounds at Clark after chasing him into his grandmother's backyard, striking him at least seven times _ probably before the first anniversary of the shooting on March 18.
To many inside this tight-knit community of about 500,000, the question isn't whether the officers will be charged, but what will happen when they aren't.
The shared belief among community activists, politicians and police that the shooting probably will be deemed justifiable is transforming a local fight into a statewide cause. There is a growing determination that if no criminal action is taken in the Clark case, calls for legislation curbing the use of deadly force in California should become the focus of protests.
Schubert "is most likely going to do what she does every time and not charge them," said Adrianne Pennington, a member of Black Lives Matter. "I'm not anticipating that she will be in the people's favor. It would be great, but I'm not expecting it."
Case law provides strong protections for law enforcement involved in lethal incidents and Schubert has never prosecuted an officer-involved shooting. Despite her reelection last year, some in the black community view Schubert with animosity and skepticism, enough that protesters have showed up at her office for 49 weeks in a row.
Last week, Pennington brought a lawn chair and a grill. Her daughter, Jaelynn, 8, used plastic clips to hang a sign on the cyclone wire that read, "(Expletive) this fence."
Sacramento's police chief, Daniel Hahn, said at a March news conference that he asked Becerra to conduct an independent review of the Clark shooting to "help build faith and confidence" in the investigation. But activists counting on Becerra for oversight soured on him when he refused to release law enforcement records under a new state transparency law that went into effect last month, though he recently put out a review of the Sacramento Police Department that suggested more than 50 improvements in use-of-force policies, officer training and how investigations are conducted.
Local leaders including Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg are supporting the push for action at the state level, in an attempt to avert violence in the aftermath of Schubert's expected announcement and, in Steinberg's case, as proof of a commitment to addressing racism and associated ills including generational poverty.
Every Friday for more than a month, City Hall officials have held closed-door meetings with black community leaders. Steinberg and Hahn _ the city's first black police chief, who was hired after an officer-involved shooting of another black man in 2016 _ have also attended as they try to forge the connections needed to prevent turbulent protests, according to attendees interviewed by the Los Angeles Times. The buy-in from the community has been mixed, but the purpose is clear: Give the anger a focus beyond the decision not to prosecute.
Clark was shot just a few miles from the state Capitol, and the proximity to state legislators combined with videos and a surge of activism made the shooting a "perfect storm," said use-of-force expert Ed Obayashi, a state training consultant on the issue.
Protests over Clark's shooting helped spur last year's landmark police transparency law, SB 1421, which requires the release of investigative and personnel records in officer-involved shootings and some instances of substantiated misconduct _ the law Becerra has said he is waiting to comply with until the courts decide whether it should be applied retroactively. (Becerra, however, recently filed a brief in favor of retroactive document releases in a pending state Supreme Court case brought by the Association for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs.)
Clark's shooting also fueled legislation that would have changed the standard dictating when officers in California can be prosecuted for using deadly force, though the bill ultimately failed after vigorous opposition from police unions and law enforcement.
This year, legislators introduced two competing bills to address the issue. One revived an American Civil Liberties Union-backed effort from last year that would make it easier to prosecute officers in instances of deadly force. The other, supported by police unions, would focus instead on internal training and policies.
That measure, Senate Bill 230, has gained traction, with 17 Democrats signing on as co-authors _ an indication that the more far-reaching measure, Assembly Bill 392, could encounter a tough fight.
But the inability of activists to force what they see as accountability at the local level might be a lucky break for AB 392. Taking protests to the Capitol steps could once again be the spark that gives reform legislation momentum.
In the weeks after Clark was shot last year, legislative hearings were packed with community members demanding action. Clark's name joined those of many others killed by police in California and elsewhere whose deaths have prompted louder calls for policing reform, including Oscar Grant, Freddie Gray and Philando Castile.
Stevante Clark, Stephon Clark's older brother, supports AB 392. In the weeks after the shooting, he jumped on the dais at City Hall and cursed at Steinberg. He says he regrets that outburst and now has reservations about new protests with no clear purpose. Instead, he is planning three days of events around the anniversary of his brother's death, including a push at the Capitol to support the legislation. He said he remains hopeful Schubert will file charges.
"My grandmother really believes the officers are going to be held accountable," said Clark as he sat in her living room, just feet from where his brother died in the backyard.
The night of the shooting, police responded to a call about a man in a hoodie breaking car windows. It remains unclear if Stephon Clark was the person the 911 caller was reporting, but he was spotted by a Sheriff's Department helicopter in a neighbor's backyard, where he allegedly broke a sliding glass door before jumping a fence into the Clark property.
Two officers chased him down the side of the house and around a corner, where one of them yelled that Clark had a gun. Both officers fired in a seconds-long encounter caught on video by their body cameras and the helicopter, footage that was released by the department within days.
Though local philanthropists landscaped the backyard after the shooting, placing a memorial stone in the ground where Stephon Clark fell, neither Stevante Clark nor his grandmother steps foot there anymore.
"Prosecuting the officers, that is what we want," Clark said.
But if Schubert clears the officers of criminal wrongdoing, which Clark fears may be the case, "something has to be done," he said.
"If we are going to come together in solidarity and unity, it needs to be on one accord," Clark said. "I think once the district attorney comes out with her finding and they are negative, the immediate response (is), 'See, this is why we need AB 392. This is why we need less lethal force. This is why we need these things, because if we would have had these things done, Stephon probably would be here.'"
Last week, Steinberg gave his State of the City address in a community center around the corner from Clark's house, apologizing to the family and pledging to fight for $200 million over five years for economic equity in the city's disadvantaged neighborhoods.
In an interview with The Times, Steinberg stopped short of endorsing AB 392 but said use-of-force standards need to be stricter and that he would probably participate in protests if charges are not filed _ part of the plan he has discussed in private meetings. A former leader of the state Senate and a close adviser of Gov. Gavin Newsom, Steinberg is skilled at navigating the legislative process and said he wants to avoid a repeat of last year _ both the shooting and the aftermath.
"The outcome was wrong. He should not have died," Steinberg said of Clark during his speech. "The best chance we have for peace is for people to know and see that we mean to change what must change."
The alliance between leaders such as Steinberg and activists is a delicate one. Sonia Lewis of Black Lives Matter Sacramento, which has spearheaded the protests against Schubert, said her group is the "wild card" and concerned about "caving in to a big compromise."
"We are definitely teetering back and forth on what we want to support," she said.
And Clark is skeptical that the response to the reports on his brother's death can be directed, much less planned.
"You can't contain raw emotion," he said. "Pressure bursts pipes."
Clark is adamant that his brother, 22 when he died and the father of two sons, will not simply be a name on a list of black men killed by police. He wants Stephon Clark's death to prompt a legacy of systemic change that goes beyond legislative reforms passed last year.
"Transparency without accountability is nothing," Clark said. "I believe in accountability. Transparency is good, but transparency wouldn't have helped my brother. Less lethal force would have helped him."
