APD asks witnesses to come forward on third anniversary of David Josiah Lawson’s death
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
JOSIAH LAWSON HOMICIDE OCCURRED THREE YEARS AGO
On this day three years ago HSU Student David Josiah Lawson was murdered in Arcata. This case remains under investigation and the Arcata Police Department is seeking the public’s assistance during the on-going investigation. On April 15, 2017, while attending a house party on Spear Avenue, Josiah was stabbed during an altercation. Josiah was pronounced deceased shortly thereafter at Mad River Community Hospital.
Witnesses described upwards of 100 people in attendance at the house party. Many of those who were present have not been identified nor have they been interviewed by Detectives from the Arcata Police Department. The completion of this investigation is dependent on a number of factors including interviewing all people who were present at some point during the party or who have information that can corroborate what occurred that night.
The Arcata Police Department established a 24 hour confidential tip line for community members to provide information relative to this investigation. The phone number is (707) 825-2590. Community members can also call the APD’s Dispatch Center at (707) 822-2424.
Keeping Josiah’s memory alive is paramount to this case. The Arcata Police Department will continue to investigate this case and will continue to work all investigative leads until justice prevails.
Attached in a separate email is a Public Service Announcement developed in partnership with DJ’s Mother, Charmaine Lawson, the Arcata Police Department, the Eureka Broadcasting Company and the City of Arcata’s IT Department. The PSA link is Facebook compatible. All are encouraged to share this link with anyone in order to never forget DJ and to encourage community members who have any information at all regarding who else was in attendance at the party and/or the events that led to DJ’s death, to come forward.
Public service announcement video reposted by the North Coast Journal:
Living in a community full of love, fear and a growing void of justice
Thirty-three months after a black HSU student was murdered in the city of Arcata, a circle of family, friends, students and community members huddled together, clasped hands and shouted his name.
“Justice for David Josiah Lawson,” the group said loud and clear over and over from the steps of the Arcata City Hall. The sun had set hours ago, and a winter wind was biting at those gathered in attendance, but weather wouldn’t stop the crowd.
“The vibe itself is very upbeat considering the weather,” said attendee Andre Ramos, who wore a heavy winter coat and a beanie pulled over his ears.
Every month since the murder of David Josiah Lawson, a crowd has gathered around Charmaine Lawson, the mother of Josiah Lawson, and together they demand justice for Josiah. Lawson remains steadfast in her belief that justice will happen. She makes the journey all the way up to Humboldt from her home in Southern California to remind those in power that she will make it happen.
“It will happen,” Lawson said. “I serve a mighty god. As long as I have breath in my body I will continue to be here.”
“There are beautiful, amazing, wonderful, compassionate people here. There is love within this community, but there is evil and darkness here.”
Charmaine Lawson
To Lawson, this was an open and shut case. The original suspect, former Mckinleyville resident Kyle Christopher Zoellner, was apprehended the night of the murder. Lawson said the murder weapon was also found. She said DNA evidence should presumably solve this case.
“Why we’re still here? Dumbfounded,” Lawson said.
As the months go by, more and more students move to Humboldt to attend Humboldt State University. Yet Lawson is concerned these students don’t know the situation they’re moving into.
HSU has a much higher population of people of color than the surrounding community. Most HSU students come from Los Angeles or the Bay Area and the small-town culture of Humboldt is different from what they’re used to. Lawson wants to ensure that all students who start the next step of their lives in Humboldt make it out again, but she feels that students of color simply aren’t welcome.
“If you’re a student of color, be careful,” Lawson said. “There are beautiful, amazing, wonderful, compassionate people here. There is love within this community, but there is evil and darkness here.”
Kwame Achebe, a San Diego native, agreed. Achebe has attended every vigil since the murder, but his voice still shook when talking about what happened. He chose his words carefully but spoke with a grim humor when recounting one of his first experiences in Humboldt.
“What’s funny is in San Diego I’m pretty light skinned,” Achebe said with a laugh. “In San Diego I’d have to be convincing people I was black. I didn’t need to convince anybody here. My first day at Arcata High I was greeted as ‘the nigger,’ OK? I was greeted as ‘the nigger.’”
Achebe said his experiences in Humboldt have told him that this isn’t an aberration.
“For us not to have justice 33 months after the murder of a young black man? It’s not out of the norm at all,” Achebe said.
Achebe said the elected leaders of Arcata don’t care about what happened to Josiah Lawson, so it’s up to the people.
“I’ve been out here from the very beginning. I see the look on their faces when they’re addressing us. They have no souls in their eyes,” Achebe said. “They don’t care.”
Part of the goal of the Justice for Josiah movement is justice in the form of political change, not just for Josiah Lawson, but for the whole system. Lawson vowed to keep working to elect people who she thinks will be able to uphold justice.
“I will continue to call people in power out that are elected officials who are not doing their jobs and make sure we get people with integrity and love and compassion in seats,” Lawson said.
Over the course of the almost three-year history of this case, it has faced numerous setbacks. The case against Zoellner was dismissed in 2017. In 2019, a criminal grand jury decided not to indict anyone for the murder of Josiah Lawson, and the California Attorney General declined to take the case.
“Justice for me is having Kyle Christopher Zoellner arrested for the murder of my son David Josiah Lawson and held accountable for his actions,” Lawson said.
The history of the case shows that a system that could bring about the justice that Lawson wants is not the one Humboldt has, but Lawson is convinced it will one day. Until then, Lawson is concerned for the students of color in the here and now.
“Don’t go anywhere alone in this town,” Lawson said. “Stick together so someone can tell your story if you’re not able to.”
Member of the criminal grand jury assembled David Josiah Lawson case says ‘we have failed’
A criminal grand juror broke silence on their experience during the proceedings that lead to a non-indictment decision in the fatal stabbing of David Josiah Lawson.
Aired live on local television, North Coast News reporter Nazy Javid sat down with the anonymous juror that said the process was a “gross failure” and injustice was done. The juror’s voice was altered and body completely hidden.
“In the instructions that the deputy district attorney gave us, we could not choose to indict if we decided that it was self-defense,” the juror said.
The anonymous juror said all but one of the 18 jurors were white and 15 of the 18 voted Kyle Zoellner committed the stabbing of David Josiah Lawson.
The juror felt the deliberation process was unstructured and a lot of the jurors thought they had to prove a charge but, “we were not tasked with proving guilt or innocence, only probable cause.” During a trial vote several voted for manslaughter and “four or five voted for murder,” the juror said.
“Because someone that we, that the jury all agreed committed the stabbing, is free to walk in our community,” the juror said when asked why they felt an injustice was done.
Jury selection started February 28 and the proceedings ended March 13. The juror said deliberation lasted about six hours, which wasn’t long enough. One juror in particular, the foreperson pro-tem, insisted that the stabbing was of self-defense and was the one who signed the documents for “no-indictment.”
When asked if there was DNA evidence on the knife, the juror said experts worded it backwards saying “there was one in so many quintillion or septillion chance that the DNA was from someone other than Mr. Zoellner.”
“We have failed,” the juror said.
When North Coast News asked Humboldt County District Attorney Maggie Fleming why the case was presented by the deputy district attorney and not herself, Fleming said the DA’s office has several deputy district attorneys with the capability to effectively handle any case and all the roles of a prosecutor, including presentation of information to a grand jury. Fleming said she formally requested the Attorney General take over the case.
“It will be up to that office to decide what further action will be taken,” Fleming said.
The Lumberjack has been following this story. Please stay tune for more in depth updates.
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