Devin James, 32, was hired by the city of Ferguson, Missouri, to handle media requests and oversee its public relations strategy in an effort to restore confidence in the Ferguson Police Department following the shooting death of unarmed Michael Brown on Aug. 9. James has a criminal past that includes a life of drugs, gangs and murder. In 2006, James was convicted of reckless homicide in Tennessee. He contends the shooting in Shelby County, Tennessee, was an act of self-defense.
James is the founder of The Devin James Company which has offices in California, Illinois, Missouri, Oregon and Washington state. It was his strategy that led Police Chief Thomas Jackson to record an apology video to Michael Brown’s family and supporters on Thursday. On the video Jackson acknowledges the teen’s body should have been removed sooner from the street than the four hours it actually took.
James was subcontracted two weeks after the killing and was being paid $155 per hour. Following his termination, he told CNN, “I started my company shortly afterwards and pretty much have been doing everything I could to get my life on the right track and to get going in a different direction. I’ve always been forthright with my clients about that.”
A statement from St. Louis Economic Development Partnership, the lead contractor on a North St. Louis County marketing project, read: “We have asked Elasticity, our contracted communications firm, to release Devin James from his subcontractor role, due to a lack of transparency.
“While we admire his personal growth from difficult circumstances and commend him for his high quality work in Ferguson, it was the lack of information about his background that prompted us to make this move.
“Mr. James failed to inform us of his prior conviction.
“He also did not reveal this information to Elasticity when he was hired as a subcontractor.
“As of today, we are developing new vendor due diligence policies which we believe will prevent similar incidents in the future.”
The shooting occurred in 2004 when Rodney Steward and Marcus Moffitt, nicknamed “Big D,” attempted to rob James. James told Memphis police Moffitt had a 9 mm handgun and ordered him to lie down but he fled to another room to get his gun. Steward and Moffitt took off running.
When police arrived, they found Steward dead after being shot eight times in James’ yard. James had 2.4 grams of crack cocaine in his pocket.
He was tried in 2006, he appealed, and it was denied. In 2009, James was incarcerated at a work farm for 90 days. His probation ended in March of this year.
In spite of his public relations expertise and making significant inroads in the community, the Partnership, a public agency, which was created last year when the city of St. Louis and St. Louis County combined their economic development initiatives, is unforgiving.
