Another Hero Who “Feared for His Safety” Gets Away With Murder

2
2088
Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Or at least, looks like:

From Cleveland.com:

CINCINNATI (AP) — A judge declared a mistrial after a jury said it was deadlocked Saturday in the case of a white former police officer charged with murder in the fatal traffic stop shooting of an unarmed black motorist.

The Hamilton County jury had deliberated some 25 hours after getting the case at noontime Wednesday following Judge Megan Shanahan’s instructions. University of Cincinnati police officer Ray Tensing shot 43-year-old Sam DuBose in the head after pulling him over for a missing front license plate on July 19, 2015.

Tensing, 26, testified he feared he was going to be killed. Prosecutors said repeatedly the evidence contradicted Tensing’s story.

The jury of 10 whites and two blacks was seated Oct. 31.

You may remember the very graphic video of Sam Dubose’s murder. It was Tensing’s own body cam that captured the whole thing.

Cleveland.com continues:

ray-tensing-ef3e9b6da7d7fc1a

“It’s obvious to me you have made a sincere and contentious effort,” the judge said before setting a new hearing date for Nov. 28 to determine whether the case will re-tried.

To convict Tensing of murder, jurors would have had to find he purposely killed DuBose. The charge carried a possible sentence of 15 years to life in prison.

Legal experts say juries generally tend to give police officers the benefit of the doubt because of the inherent dangers of their jobs, but that they will convict if the police actions were clearly unwarranted.

In tearful testimony Tuesday, Tensing said his arm was stuck in DuBose’s car after he tried to stop him from driving away by grabbing the car keys.

“I remember thinking, ‘Oh my God, he’s going to run me over and he’s going to kill me,’” Tensing said.

An expert hired by prosecutors said his analysis of the former officer’s body camera video shows the officer was not being dragged by the car. A defense expert countered that the video shows Tensing was justified in fearing for his life because his body was “violently twisted” during the confrontation.

 

 

2 COMMENTS

    • Hi Tor,

      This happened, I suspect, only because of the public notoriety of the case. And, had you or I done the same thing – unloaded a gun into an innocent person who in no way threatened us – we’d be looking at second degree murder. Not manslaughter.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here