An attorney for Kerrick asked that Ervin declare a mistrial, arguing that the judge could do so if it was clear the jury couldn’t reach a verdict.
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“We have exhausted every possibility and we have gone around and around”.
After several votes, the jury of seven whites, three blacks and two hispanics, was split 8-4, though judge Robert Ervin did not reveal which way they were leaning.
By nightfall, the Black Lives Matter protesters were roving around the city with signs and chanting, among other things, “No justice, no peace”.
Brady was Kerrick’s supervisor and told jurors that he chewed Kerrick out about a year prior to the fatal shooting of Jonathan Ferrell because he didn’t go to a lethal option when backing up his fellow officer who had drawn his taser in a heated domestic situation.
Prosecutors say nonlethal force should have been used to subdue Ferrell, a former Florida A&M football player.
Laughrun had no comment after the mistrial was declared and jurors walked past reporters without taking questions. The resident called police, and three officers responded. Police Chief Kerr Putney said his department strives for perfection, and he asked citizens not to judge it by a single incident. Kerrick testified he kept firing his weapon because Ferrell kept charging at him on the morning of September 14, 2013.
Legal expert James Wyatt said the personal opinions following the jurors into the deliberation room are also affect their decisions.
Randall “Wes” Kerrick faced up to 11 years in prison before a mistrial. Ferrell had crashed his vehicle and had gone to the house apparently for help, police have said.
Judge Robert C. Ervin read the elements, which include whether Kerrick killed Ferrell intentionally and unlawfully.
The Ferrell family had already reached a settlement with the city of Charlotte, receiving $2.25m (£1.4m). When they arrived on the scene, Ferrell reportedly ran towards the officers, and Kerrick fired twelve times.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Belliss said investigators began tracking Crawford in 2012 after he approached two local Jewish groups with his technological idea for how they could defeat their enemies.
Kerrick’s defense team did not speak after the judge declared a mistrial.
Kerrick shot at Ferrell 12 times – 10 bullets piercing his body – and at least eight of those shots were fired while Ferrell was crawling on the ground. Defence attorneys said that Kerrick had no way of knowing whether Ferrell was armed and that Ferrell tried to take Kerrick’s gun.
Move through time just a little more and we see story after story, evidence after evidence being presented in Charlotte’s first trial charging an on-duty officer in 30 years.
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As was the case in some other police shootings brought to national attention – such as those of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri; Walter Scott in North Charleston, South Carolina; Samuel DuBose in Cincinnati and, most recently, Christian Taylor in Arlington, Texas – the victim was unarmed.
