No one to be charged in black teen’s death

A grand jury determined that there wasn’t evidence to warrant charges in the death of Nolan Wells, a black college student whose body was found after a July 4 boating trip and party on an island off the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

Wells’ family swiftly pushed back on the findings. District Attorney Angel Myers McIlrath, who has overseen the investigation into the 18-year-old’s death, announced the grand jury’s findings late on Monday, after months of intense speculation about how Wells went missing from the bustling party and why the friends who ferried him to Horn Island left without him.

The grand jury found no evidence of criminal conduct and said that based on various factors, including the position and condition of Wells’ body when found two days after he was last seen, his death was “consistent with drowning”. Although the state medical examiner’s office’s autopsy results haven’t been made public, the grand jury report said that it and a separate autopsy conducted by a forensic pathologist hired by Wells’ family found bruising on the back of his head but couldn’t determine the cause of death.

Wells’ mother, Christine Wonsley, speaking at a news conference on Tuesday was baffled.

“How can a jury come to the conclusion of drowning, despite knowing that there was trauma to his body, and despite hearing many inconsistencies?” she said.

The investigation has led to rampant speculation and suspicion as people grapple with Mississippi’s history of racial tension and what it means to be a black person in a majority white setting. Everyone else in the group that travelled with Wells to the island is white. Attorneys for friends of Wells, who have been the subject of online rumours and accusations, hailed the report’s findings, with one saying his client can now properly grieve.

During its investigation into whether crimes were committed, the grand jury issued 132 subpoenas and heard from 43 witnesses through direct testimony, sworn statements and recorded interviews, according to the report. It weighed evidence, including cellphone data and forensic reports, videos and GPS data.

Lawyers for Wells’ family, including civil rights attorney Ben Crump, said the grand jury’s report yielded more questions than answers, and they accused the district attorney of ending the investigation despite not determining what caused blunt force trauma to the back of Wells’ head and body.

“All other causes must be ruled out prior to certifying a death as drowning,” Crump, whose team released the final version of the independent autopsy report on Tuesday, said at the news conference. “What is another cause the district attorney failed to rule out? Blunt force trauma ... . Common sense tells you that this child did not just drown.”

A witness testified to the grand jury that he saw Wells slip awkwardly off the side of a boat around 3:30 p.m. on July 4, but that Wells continued to socialise after the fall and didn’t appear injured, the report said. The panel said it couldn’t determine whether the fall caused the bruising on Wells’ body.

Wonsley said she was informed of the grand jury’s findings only minutes before Myers McIlrath posted a video about them on her office’s Facebook page, and that this lacked empathy.

“Last night (Monday night) was a reminder that our son’s life does not matter to those who hold positions that are supposed to serve and protect the public,” Wonsley said, struggling through tears. “Nolan is loved. He is cherished. He is honoured. And he did not deserve to have his life taken away so suddenly.”