Molly Miller

According to Los Angeles Police Chief Michel Moore, 50% of all homicides in LA are gang-related. As a result, covering homicide in Los Angeles means covering gang violence. The statistics become their own, seemingly inevitable narrative that hangs like a cloud over the criminal justice system. But this isn’t a story about statistics: it’s a story about coincidence. Officer Oliver Medina takes the stand. He has a broad face adorned with unruly eyebrows. His boyish disposition is disarmingly friendly — a stark contrast to his finely pressed uniform and the imposing silver badge on his chest. He speaks with sincerity when...

Think about the least significant piece of furniture in your home: a stool, a hamper, maybe a couch pillow. For me, it’s a cheap Ikea chair, one that’s currently occupied by an uneven stack of mismatched magazines that I mean to read but probably never will. These nomadic elements of home décor are inconsequential to our everyday lives — until they aren’t. Do you remember exactly where your furniture was on July 16, 2018? Donniesha Gregory is the victim in this case, a 32-year-old mother of two. On Monday, July 16, Donte Solomon, Gregory’s ex-boyfriend, allegedly parked outside her house...

It’s almost like a gritty, high-octane action flick. The female lead is a young prostitute and this is the climax of her narrative arc. After years of being mentally and physically abused by her pimp, they get into one last altercation outside of a bank. The pimp punches her face, elbows her eye and slams a car door on her head. She fights back — teeth, nails, everything she’s got — and manages to knock him to the ground. Then she gets into the car and looks at her pimp through the windshield. She slams her foot on the...

My mother always said there are two sides to every story. In this story, there are two sides to the same door. It’s the wooden front door of the Martinez two-bedroom, one-story residence in Montebello, California. On one side of the door, a shot was fired. On the other side, a man was killed. Outside of the door, on the evening of October 28, 2014, 45-year-old Pomona Police Officer Shaun Diamond was called to take part in a SWAT operation. His team was tasked with serving a search warrant to a house inhabited by David Martinez, a member of the...