Siwatu-Salama Ra is an American environmental and racial justice organizer. She is known for standing trial for assault and firearm felonies following an altercation where she displayed an unloaded and legally owned handgun in Michigan, a stand your ground state. Her case has been widely cited as an example of a racist justice system in the United States and highlighting the issues with mandatory minimum sentencing. She gave birth during her time in Women's Huron Valley Correctional Facility. In August 2019 she won her appeal and her conviction was reversed.
Early life
At 19, Ra opposed Marathon Oil Refinery and the Detroit Renewable Power trash incinerator. She is co-director of East Michigan Environmental Action Council (EMEAC).
Incident
Channell Harvey brought her daughter to Ra's mother's home and Ra asked her to leave . Parties in the case dispute the events which led to Ra's arrest and imprisonment after this event.
Ra claims Harvey then rammed Ra's parked car while Ra's 2-year-old daughter was playing in the vehicle. Ra's legal team claims Harvey was trying to hit Ra and her family with the car. Ra then pointed an unloaded legally-owned gun which she owned a conceal carry permit for. Michigan is an open carry state.
Harvey claims after a verbal argument, Ra went to her car where she removed her toddler and retrieved a pistol, she then cocked the pistol and pointed it at Harvey, at which point Harvey accidentally hit Ra's vehicle while attempting to drive away. Ra claimed the pistol was unloaded and used solely to deter any violence by Harvey.
Trial
The jury focused on why the gun was in the car, an issue not presented to them during the case. The jury was also instructed that Ra had to be in fear of imminent death in order to justify pulling her weapon, an issue later becoming central to her appeal.
Ra was found guilty of assaulting Harvey . The jury did not believe that Ra's fear was enough to warrant her actions. She was convicted of a felony firearm conviction with a mandatory minimum sentence of two years. The jury of the trial were not informed that the gun charges carried a mandatory prison sentence.
The judge, Thomas Hathaway, refused to grant a request to postpone Ra’s sentence until after she gave birth due to her high risk pregnancy because of the mandatory minimum sentence law.
Incarceration
Ra was incarcerated in Huron Valley Correctional Facility, a prison with overcrowding problems and structural issues. Ra was shackled to her bed during a vaginal exam. Ra gave birth to her son at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital, in Ann Arbor, MI, in the presence of four armed guards. She was not allowed to contact her family during the birth and was not allowed to breastfeed her son. After 48 hours, her son was taken from her and temporarily put into the care of her relatives.
Appeal
In her post-conviction appeal, Ra was defended by Wade Fink Law, P.C. Attorney Wade Fink replaced prior counsel and subsequently secured Ra's release from prison. Ra's attorneys raised a number of issues on appeal, including that Ra was not permitted to defend herself using a self defense theory. Fink was ultimately successful in reversing the convictions.
Convictions reversed
On August 20, 2019, the Michigan Court of Appeals reversed Ra's convictions, holding that Ra's use of a firearm did not constitute deadly force, but rather non deadly force, making trial jury instructions incorrect. Ra's attorney, Wade Fink of Wade Fink Law, P.C. in Birmingham, Michigan, stated that the "Michigan Court of Appeals again showed itself to be the thoughtful, deliberative judiciary that citizens can rely upon to do justice.” Whether the case will be retried by the Wayne County Prosecutor remains to be seen.
Criticism of the case
The jury did not believe that Ra had an honest and reasonable belief that deadly force was necessary to defend herself or her family. This has been widely seen as racially motivated opinion and that the law sets a different standard of self defense for black people.