Free Esrail Britton

On August 12th, Esrail Britton, a nineteen-year-old St. Louis native, was in Ferguson protesting Mike Brown's murder. At about 1am that morning, Esrail was shot by a St. Louis County police officer three times. The officer claimed Esrail pointed a gun at him from five feet away; a gun with none of Esrail's DNA or fingerprints was recovered far from the scene. Esrail was charged and released from jail on no bond; his judge determined that he was not in any way a threat to society and his health condition was so critical that the jail could not provide the care he needed. However, upon his release, the St. Louis County Police Union mounted an aggressive media campaign, saying they were "disgusted" with Esrail's release. 

A few weeks later, Esrail was put back in jail with a $200,000 cash-only bond. He has now been in jail for more than five months, has not been receiving proper medical care, and cannot move the shoulder in which he was shot, because he has not been allowed to attend physical therapy.

Earlier this week, Esrail's lawyer got his bond reduced to $20,000 cash-only. The Justice for Mike Brown Legal Support Fund can contribute $6,000 toward Esrail's bond, but we are still $14,000 short. Because this is an extremely severe situation, we--together with Esrail's family--are asking members of the movement to help by contributing to this bail fund. If we cannot post bail for Esrail, he'll be in jail until at least the end of the year, because his trial will not start until September at the earliest. Esrail's father is a member of the carpenters' union local 97; although he currently does not have the money to get Esrail out, he is offering to do carpentry for local folks in exchange for contributing to this fund. If you contribute to the fund and are interested in that, please email fergusonjs2014@gmail.com.

Esrail is yet another example of how our criminal justice system does not value Black lives. Please contribute to the fund and let Esrail know there is an entire movement that believes his life matters.