It’s far from certain that officer Derek Chauvin will be convicted of murder in the killing of George Floyd. But there’s almost no chance that officer Garrett Rolfe will be convicted of murder in the killing of Rayshard Brooks.

Anyone with even a basic law school education could tell you that. But by charging Atlanta police officer Garrett Rolfe with capital murder, Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard shows he has politics foremost on his mind. Running for reelection in a tough primary fight, Howard is the subject of two separate investigations. He suggests that because Rolfe used his firearm to shoot Brooks and then stated, “I got him,” he engaged in a capricious act of murder.