S. Lee Merritt. The civil rights attorney, 35, has represented several families broken by relatives’ deaths at the hands of law enforcement over the last five years, the Dallas News reported. He has vowed to fight for justice and confirmed his commitment to that mission with each case — many of which have made national headlines.
When the family of 15-year-old Jordan Edwards, the Balch Springs, Texas police shooting victim, began their battle against the police last April, they called Merritt. When father Diante Yarber was fatally shot by police in a Walmart parking lot in Barstow, California on April 5, relatives turned to Merritt, who devised a “justice” action plan. When other victims of violence, including a woman who fought R.Kelly over abuse and DeAndre Harris who was beaten with pipes after the Charlottesville “Unite The Right” rally last August, needed help, Merritt stepped up.
Now, with the fatal police shooting of 17-year-old Antwon Rose who was killed without warning in East Pittsburgh on Tuesday (June 19), Merritt has a renewed focus on justice.