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'What did Jonathan Ferrell do?': juror says defense put victim on trial
Source: Associated Press
'What did Jonathan Ferrell do?': juror says defense put victim on trial
Associated Press in Charlotte, North Carolina
Sunday 23 August 2015 15.03 BST
A juror who heard evidence in the trial of a white North Carolina police officer said he challenged his colleagues to determine what an unarmed black man did to lead the defendant to fatally shoot him.
“I wrote on the board: ‘What did Jonathan Ferrell do, and I underlined “do”, to warrant death: 10 shots.’ I had done this because there was nothing that I had seen in the weeks preceding that showed me what he had done,” said juror Moses Wilson, who was one of the jurors who chose to convict officer Randall Kerrick of voluntary manslaughter.
“And I said that if anyone can show me what he did, I might change my vote which is going to be for conviction to acquittal, and every day, that was my challenge,” he said.
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While Wilson, a military veteran who served two tours of Vietnam and is also a former Boston constable, thought the prosecution’s case should have stood, he said he was particularly upset with the defense’s presentation, which he said put Ferrell on trial.
“It became not what he did, or what they did to him, but more, what he didn’t do, what he should have known what to do, so that the police would not either beat him silly or shoot him,” Wilson said.
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Associated Press in Charlotte, North Carolina
Sunday 23 August 2015 15.03 BST
A juror who heard evidence in the trial of a white North Carolina police officer said he challenged his colleagues to determine what an unarmed black man did to lead the defendant to fatally shoot him.
“I wrote on the board: ‘What did Jonathan Ferrell do, and I underlined “do”, to warrant death: 10 shots.’ I had done this because there was nothing that I had seen in the weeks preceding that showed me what he had done,” said juror Moses Wilson, who was one of the jurors who chose to convict officer Randall Kerrick of voluntary manslaughter.
“And I said that if anyone can show me what he did, I might change my vote which is going to be for conviction to acquittal, and every day, that was my challenge,” he said.
[font size=1]-snip-[/font]
While Wilson, a military veteran who served two tours of Vietnam and is also a former Boston constable, thought the prosecution’s case should have stood, he said he was particularly upset with the defense’s presentation, which he said put Ferrell on trial.
“It became not what he did, or what they did to him, but more, what he didn’t do, what he should have known what to do, so that the police would not either beat him silly or shoot him,” Wilson said.
[font size=1]-snip-[/font]
Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/aug/23/jonathan-ferrell-mistrial-north-carolina-police