ST. LOUIS - Hundreds of protesters poured into St. Louis streets on Friday, and some scuffles erupted, after a Missouri judge acquitted a former white police officer who was charged with murder in the 2011 fatal shooting of a black man.
...Former city policeman Jason Stockley, 36, was found not guilty of first-degree murder in the shooting death of Anthony Lamar Smith, 24, in a verdict rendered by a judge five weeks after the end of a non-jury trial. Stockley said Smith fled in his car when the officer tried to arrest him on drug charges.
Stockley and his partner chased Smith, who was shot five times in his car. The former policeman believed Smith was armed, defense attorneys said. A gun was found in the car, but prosecutors argued Stockley planted the weapon and that gun had only Stockley's DNA on it.
...In his ruling, Judge Timothy Wilson said the state had failed to prove a charge of murder beyond a reasonable doubt, or even a lesser charge such as involuntary manslaughter.
The judge also said he doubted the prosecution's claim the gun was planted, writing: "Finally, the court observes, based on its nearly 30 years on the bench, that an urban heroin dealer not in possession of a firearm would be an anomaly."
Incidentally, would I be correct in assuming that the diseased clients' were mostly African-Americans? |