‘Justice not served’ in cop killing of Idaho rancher

Justice for Jack

Friends and family of rancher Jack Yantis, who was shot and killed by two sheriff’s deputies on Nov. 1 a year ago, celebrated his life with a community cookout in a public park in Council, Idaho, Oct. 8. The barbecue followed a baby shower for his daughter Sarah held earlier in the day. The Idaho State Attorney has refused to charge the two cops who shot Yantis.

Above right, truck driver Michael McLaughlin, who helped organize the event, speaks to the 70 people who attended the barbecue.

“I can’t stand by and do nothing,” Audrey Bath, a call center worker who came from Boise, Idaho, to join the celebrations, told the Idaho Statesman. “I don’t believe that justice has been served.” Bath said she has participated in 10 rallies demanding the deputies be charged over the past year and distributed more than 1,200 “Justice for Jack” red wristbands across the United States.

More incriminating information about the deputies’ killing of Yantis keeps coming out. Yantis had been called by the police to put a bull he owned out of its misery after it had been struck by a car. Witnesses say one of the sheriffs spun Yantis around and started firing. The Statesman reported Sept. 29 that “investigators found no definitive evidence that Yantis fired his rifle,” despite claims by the two cops that Yantis had shot at them.

— EDWIN FRUIT