Public pressure is influencing Mikayla Miller's death investigation. Should it have to?

HOPKINTON, Mass. — Without public and media pressure, family members and social justice advocates say investigators wouldn’t have reversed course last week on withholding some key reports about the April 18 death of 16-year-old Mikayla Miller.

“The truth of the matter is, if we didn’t apply pressure nothing would’ve happened,” Monica Cannon-Grant, an advocate who has been serving as a spokesperson for Miller’s mother, Calvina Strothers, said in a video interview May 26. “We watched it happen in the George Floyd case. They were like, ‘It was a medical situation’ and they weren’t going to file any charges. People hit the streets — for a whole year we protested — and charges were brought.”

But should it take intense pressure, protests or hashtag campaigns to increase transparency in ongoing investigations? If a family believes their loved one’s case isn’t being properly handled, or that key details are being wrongfully withheld, what happens if that family’s pleas for transparency don’t go viral?

The investigation into Miller’s death is among many across the country prompting such questions as America reckons with racial injustice in the wake of high-profile cases like Floyd’s.

'Highly suspicious': Mikayla Miller's mother, civil rights leaders dispute medical examiner's ruling

The Hopkinton Police Department acknowledged the significant public interest in the Miller case when it released some of its materials on May 19. In a statement, the department wrote Chief Joseph Bennett believes releasing the records "is the prudent course of action given the volume of records requests received and the amount of public commentary already made regarding this case."

“The public should have faith that its municipal police department responded to this tragic circumstance promptly and treated it with due care and consideration," the department wrote.

Whether it’s with Strothers, Floyd’s family or numerous others who have succeeded in putting a spotlight on their own campaigns, advocates fear the need for families to rally public pressure is placing them in painful and unfair positions.

“No one should have to, in conjunction with their grief, also be their own attorney representation and the crime scene investigator and the person who is gathering evidence,” said Cannon-Grant, who has assisted numerous families through her nonprofit, Violence in Boston Inc. “It’s exhausting… You have moments you talk to (Strothers) and she’s crying profusely and breaking down and like, ‘How do I handle that?’ She’s not used to the public eye. She’s not used to the public pressure, them digging into her life and them bringing up things that have nothing to do with this case. It’s all just horrible and no one would do this voluntarily if they didn’t feel like this was their last option.”

In addition, Cannon-Grant and other social justice leaders fear the influence public pressure and social media have on investigations deepens the inequities found in how law enforcement officers and prosecutors handle cases.

For every Floyd, there are many more that fail to garner passionate and large-scale support, according to sociologist Sarah Lageson and National Black Justice Coalition Executive Director David Johns.

That failure often happens, Johns said, the further away the individual’s identity and circumstances are “from the expectations of whiteness.”

"There was never anyone who said to me if I were victimized, if I experienced something that was wrong that I would have the promise of justice if I met certain social conditions, if I had a relationship to a prominent public figure, if I could get celebrities to tweet a hashtag with my name, if I could have an organization like NBJC invest in a campaign so people know who I am and are engaged with my family in asking questions that should lead to accountability,” Johns said in a phone interview on May 27.

Related story: Derek Chauvin, convicted of George Floyd's murder, makes court appearance on federal charges

George Floyd: Workers reopen intersection where George Floyd died in Minneapolis despite activists' demands

The investigation into Mikayla Miller’s death

Miller, 16, of Hopkinton, was found near a path in woods on the morning of April 18. According to Johns and Cannon-Grant, her body was found standing upright near a tree, with a belt tied around her neck and the tree.

Hopkinton police, state police and the Middlesex County district attorney's office announced they were investigating Miller’s death as a suicide, releasing limited information during the initial stages of the investigation. The state medical examiner later ruled the manner of death to be suicide and the cause to be asphyxiation by hanging.

Strothers and her supporters, who also include prominent civil rights lawyer Benjamin Crump and former Boston City Councilor Tito Jackson, have rejected those conclusions.

In addition to thanking the public and media for pushing for answers, the group voiced during an audio press conference on May 19 that, based on the evidence available to them, they believe Miller was murdered.

They suggested Miller’s death might be a “lynching” and said Miller, who was Black and a member of the LGBTQ community, was jumped by five white teens the night before a jogger found her body in the woods.

Middlesex County District Attorney Marian Ryan has said her office hasn’t reached any final conclusions and "that what we owe (Miller) is a full and accurate accounting … of what led to her death."

Hopkinton police, DA's release of information

Hopkinton police and the DA’s office have repeatedly denied Strothers’ requests for reports, according to Cannon-Grant. She said the ways in which officials have allegedly shared information with the press before Miller's family has further fueled beliefs that the case hasn’t been handled properly or transparently.

When the police department ultimately released some of the previously withheld reports and records on May 19, it did so roughly an hour before Strothers, her legal team and her supporters held their press conference. The department released the reports in a batch of investigative materials that also included the initial 911 call and a police cruiser dashboard camera video.

The department didn’t release all of its investigative materials, however. According to Bennett, some things can’t be released to the public, such as information about the April 17 fight that involved Miller and several teens because it’s a domestic abuse investigation.

Strothers has said her daughter was jumped by five teens, including two whose families have ties to the Hopkinton Police Department. Ryan has previously said Miller fought with two teens – a boy and a girl.

Speaking generally, Kelly said information is withheld during ongoing investigations to balance protecting the integrity of any investigation and the potential impacts the release of information could have on public safety.

"Again this is just speaking generally, but a lot of times it will matter where we are with conducting witness (interviews)," she said. "If we're still interviewing witnesses, then we might not want to put out that, if we believe there was a blue four-door sedan that was involved in (a) hit-and-run (case) because if we're still interviewing witnesses and somebody says they saw a different color car or somebody saw (something) on the news, then that's affecting their statement to police.."

David Kuzmeski, an associate professor of criminal justice at American International College, described that dynamic as a "tightrope." However, he also said it's important for officers and prosecutors to understand how Black Americans "have historically, to this day, not been receiving the same benefits (in) the criminal justice system as others" and how that influences the perceptions of investigations.

"There are certain general parameters but each case is individualized and you have to factor in the evidence you have, the evidence you hope to obtain ... when you're talking about a family (and) the knowledge that they crave," said Kuzmeski, a former Amherst police officer who's been following coverage of the investigation into Miller's death.

Strothers and her supporters have frequently questioned why it took 12 days before Ryan, the head of the Miller investigation, spoke with Miller's family for the first time.

Kelly declined to answer that question during a June 1 phone interview, but said a victim witness advocate from Ryan's office did reach out to the family the day after Miller's death and has been in touch since. Victim witness advocates, found in every DA's office in Massachusetts, serve as a liaison for family members, Kelly said.

Strothers and her supporters have said the advocate assigned to their case attempted to reach Strothers through someone no longer connected with the family, which they've said compounded communication problems. Cannon-Grant alleges it took longer than it should have to correct that.

Calls for an independent investigation

Strothers’ supporters have called for an independent investigation. Gov. Charlie Baker expressed support for one during a May 20 interview with Boston Public Radio, but said Attorney General Maura Healey is the only person who can take Ryan off the case.

Healey has said her office will “continue to closely monitor this case” as it allows the DA’s investigation to proceed.

Cannon-Grant said May 26 she’s since had a one-on-one conversation with Healey about that statement. She hopes the lines of communication stay open.

Meanwhile, Cannon-Grant has used Facebook to urge the public to request Healey open an independent investigation.

“I just don’t understand how much more needs to happen before we say, ‘You know what, this family deserves independent eyes (and) somebody to look at this case from an objective point of view,’” she said.

'It’s heartbreaking': Missouri family, racial injustice activists seeks answers in Black teen's death

The hope that Mikayla Miller inspires changes

Movements targeting injustices and inequities have been strengthened by advancements in technology and social media over the past decade, according to Lageson, an associate professor at Rutgers School of Criminal Justice who specializes in technology’s influence on justice.

Those advancements, the sociologist said, have made it easier for the public to broadcast incidents as they happen, as well as increased the degree to which police departments are directly sharing their information with the public.

Lageson said there are clear benefits there, as well as shortcomings in how entities and social media companies moderate what or how much is shared. One of her major concerns is how those advancements have made it easier to “terrify people and stigmatize people and stalk people and spread misinformation.”

Lageson, like the National Black Justice Coalition’s Johns, argues grieving families shouldn’t have to shoulder the public spotlight and the potential for angry backlash as they seek answers.

“We need to figure out ways to share that burden and push for change in a way that isn’t so individualized,” she said.

"I know many victim witness advocates here, and some of them are my former students, they really are dedicated to assisting victims of crime and sending them to receive the resources they need to receive ... and are very sincere, compassionate people," Kuzmeski said. "Putting more money and giving them more resources would only benefit the job they do."

Cannon-Grant said she has seen some systemic improvements in recent years in other parts of Massachusetts, particularly in the Suffolk County district attorney’s office.

Cannon-Grant said Suffolk DA Rachael Rollins “is one of the greatest examples” because of how she meets with families early on in investigations, connects them with resources and consistently stays in contact.

“When a homicide happens and she meets with these families, she’s very transparent about what she can discuss, what she can’t discuss and moving forward,” she said. "What we watched happen in (Miller’s) case is the DA didn’t even call the family until DA Rollins called her and said you have to talk to this family, which was 12 days after this situation happened.”

Rollins confirmed in a statement she contacted Ryan, while Ryan's office declined to answer questions about the conversation Ryan and Rollins had.

“It is our solemn duty and our sacred responsibility to get answers for these families,” said Rollins, the first woman of color elected as a district attorney in the Bay State. “At the very least, people deserve to feel respected and valued throughout this complicated and often re-traumatizing process.”

Rollins said victim witness advocates play a “critical” role and that her office “aims to ensure each victim and survivor’s right to be informed, while balancing the integrity of our investigations.” In doing so, she said she requires that every communication with families be "culturally competent and inclusive, compassionate and trauma-informed.”

Cannon-Grant and Johns said they hope Miller’s case can prompt sweeping and tough legislative changes.

Both pointed to how Phoebe Prince’s death by suicide in South Hadley in 2010 led to the creation of the Massachusetts Anti-Bullying Law. Prince was a white, 15-year-old girl who hanged herself following months of bullying. Six teens were charged with criminal offenses for their coordinated attacks against Prince.

To Johns, Miller’s case reinforces the need for new legislation around things like data collection because studies show cases involving Black members of the LGBTQ community are treated differently than those involving white individuals.

In the meantime, Johns, Cannon-Grant and others calling for justice for Miller say they’ll continue to find ways to get others engaged in advocacy in the hopes of making it so no family feels alone or unheard.

"Nothing counts but pressure, pressure, more pressure and still more pressure through broad organized aggressive mass action,’” Jackson said, quoting activist A. Philip Randolph while speaking during the May 19 press conference. “We are going to continue to put the pressure on this DA, on these police departments in order to ensure that justice as well as accountability and transparency prevail,” he continued.

Follow Kyle Stucker on Twitter: @kylestucker.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY NETWORK: Mikayla Miller: Black teen's death raises questions of transparency