Jury convicts Okla. cop in death of unarmed teen
Source: USA TODAY
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) An Oklahoma jury Tuesday convicted a veteran police captain of first-degree manslaughter in the death of an unarmed teenager who was running away after scuffling with the officer.
Del City Police Capt. Randy Trent Harrison shot Dane Scott Jr. in the back on March 14, 2012, following a high-speed chase that began when Harrison tried to pull over Scott's car.
Harrison had previously arrested Scott on drug violations, and prosecutors said his pursuit of the teenager crossed the line from professional to personal. The defense portrayed Scott as a drug dealer and said Harrison believed the teen was reaching for a second weapon after the officer took one gun from him during a scuffle that followed the police chase.
The shooting occurred just a few weeks after the death of Trayvon Martin, the unarmed black teenager killed by a neighborhood watch volunteer in Florida, and the defense suggested early on that prosecutors were influenced to file charges to prevent the type of racial discord that followed that shooting and another high-profile case in Tulsa last year. Harrison is white; Scott was black.
Read more: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/11/26/unarmed-teen-oklahoma-cop-convicted/3759523/
A teen shot in the back!!! JC!!
Blue_Tires
(55,445 posts)Floridians should now be that much more ashamed of themselves...
avebury
(10,952 posts)Evidentally, she refused to participate in the jury process. She wouldn't vote, discuss the evidence, either for or against the cop.
Blue_Tires
(55,445 posts)Blood would have been on her hands if her bullshit forced a mistrial...
liberalhistorian
(20,819 posts)be a case of attempted jury nullification on the part of a racist? Sounds like it might be, how utterly bizarre if it isn't.
avebury
(10,952 posts)and you couldn't even understand anything she said. I am not sure that she was capable of following the trial. She never should have been put on the jury in the first place.
thousands of killer cops left to go
KamaAina
(78,249 posts)You think? Public pressure is the only reason Zimmergun was ever even charged!!
Blue_Tires
(55,445 posts)And the media (along with a sizeable number of supposed "liberal" DUers) enthusiastically lapped it up like the dogs they are...
cosmicone
(11,014 posts)wow ... I never thought I'd see a cop convicted in my lifetime.
Great news -- one down, hundreds more to go.
Comrade Grumpy
(13,184 posts)This is a rare, rare event.
avebury
(10,952 posts)One of the local stations talked to the juror who was kicked off the panel. You could not even understand her. English was definitely not her first language. I am not sure that she would have been capable of following the trial. She never should have been seated on the panel in the first place.
liberalhistorian
(20,819 posts)Oklahoma, no less! I think the fact that the poor kid was shot in the back rather negated any possible defense the police officer had. If he'd been threatening the officer and reaching for a second gun, he would not have been shot in the back, for Christ's sake. Why is it so hard for those who commit such crimes to understand that, especially if they're officers? It's nothing short of cowardly, racist murder. So glad to see some actual accountability for this.
DeSwiss
(27,137 posts)...only n to go.
- K&R
therehegoes
(37 posts)Read my story, www.friscopaul.blogspot.com
Just found out that they cut and pasted my indictment after the fact. Now what type of prosecutor would cover up for a lying cop and retroactively alter a government document?