USE-OF-FORCE EXPERT: Ashli Babbitt Was ‘Murdered’

(TeaParty.org Exclusive) – The grim truth about the Jan. 6 incident continues to come out and none of it bodes well for the Democrats and their bogus narrative.

An Epoch Times documentary called “The Real Story of Jan. 6” is shedding some light on what really happened that day and one of the most disturbing revelations is the fact that Trump-supporter Ashli Babbitt was, in fact, murdered by Capitol Police Lt. Michael Byrd.

Babbitt, 35, was shot by Byrd inside the Capitol building in the left shoulder which resulted in her subsequent death at MedStar Washington Hospital Center.

According to use-of-force expert Stan Kephart, Byrd was unjustified in shooting Babbitt.

Kephart, who appears in the Jan. 6 Epoch Times documentary, is an expert in law enforcement matters and has under his belt more than 350 court appearances as an expert witness on police conduct, including excessive force, police discipline, officer safety and crowd control.

“My conclusion … based on what I saw and observed in the video clips is that Ashli Babbitt was murdered,” said Kephart, who served 42 years in law enforcement and was director of security for the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Olympics.

“She was shot and killed under color of authority by an officer who violated not only the law but his oath and committed an arrestable offense,” Kephart said.

Kephart says nothing in the video of Babbitt being shot supports the idea that Byrd should have felt in danger from Babbitt, who was 5-foot-2 and weighed 110-pounds.

“In order for lethal force to be authorized, the officer has to be able to articulate that he or she was in fear of losing his life, was about to be killed, or grievously injured,” Kephart said in the documentary.

“There is nothing I saw in that film that would indicate that was possible or probable from what unfolded,” he said.

Meanwhile, Byrd’s attorney, Mark Schamel, defended his client saying that Kephart’s conclusion is “unsupported and erroneous.” Of course he would say that.

“When Ms. Babbitt entered through the broken window and entered the inner protected area, wearing a backpack and refusing the verbal commands of multiple armed federal officers with weapons drawn, the threat she posed was clear and Lt. Byrd, as the first officer in the final line of defense, was absolutely justified in his use of force,” he said.

Kephart’s conclusion is far from unsupported. According to Aaron Babbitt, Ashli’s husband, former New York City Police Commissioners Bernard Kerik and Ray Kelly have agreed with Kephart’s assertion.

“I loved hearing that from him. He’s obviously well-versed in the use of force,” Babbitt told The Epoch Times. “He’s clearly a very smart man who has been in that business for a long time. He should be listened to.”

10 years ago, Kephart would absolutely have been listened to considering his clear level of expertise. Now, however, the left gets to determine who is worthy of being called an “expert” and who is not based on whomever supports their narrative.

Further, Babbitt also disputes the claim that his wife “refused” verbal commands from Byrd or anyone else.

“Witness testimony I’ve read, police included, said they heard no warning,” Babbitt explained, adding the shooting was “complete disregard for human life and not following the use-of-force continuum.”

Of course, the Department of Justice conducted a so-called “investigation” which found insufficient evidence that Byrd used excessive force when he shot and killed Babbitt.

There were also plenty of issues after the shooting such as Byrd not giving a statement to internal affairs investigators and never being formally interviewed before being cleared. Kephart says Byrd should have, at the very least, written a firearms discharge report following the incident but didn’t even do that.

It’s pretty clear that Byrd should be in jail for murdering Babbitt but the only people going to jail over the Jan. 6 charade are those who stand in political opposition to the Biden regime.

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