The Undertow: Scenes from a Slow Civil War

by Jeff Sharlet

So Byrd was exonerated not according to homicide law applicable to nearly every other shooting in the United States but rather a civil rights statute, 18 U.S.C. § 242, that would have required that the government prove Byrd “willfully” deprived Ashli of her constitutional rights, “with a bad purpose.” Short of a declaration from Byrd of murderous intent, this standard would make a conviction—of Byrd, or most other police officers charged with its violation—nearly impossible. Which was why the 2021 George Floyd Justice in Policing Act would have struck the word willfully from 18 U.S.C. § 242. But the same Republicans who asked, “Who killed Ashli Babbitt?” had no qualms about killing the George Floyd Act, an apparent contradiction that seems like evidence of hypocrisy only if you mistakenly believe that the question of who killed Ashli was ever meant to be answered.