05/18/2017
The manslaughter trial of female, white police officer Betty Shelby for shooting black suspect Terrence Crutcher has ended in acquittal.
Jury acquits Tulsa cop in shooting of unarmed black manBy Justin Juozapavicius, Associated Press
TULSA, Okla. — May 18, 2017, 12:30 AM ET
A jury on Wednesday acquitted of first-degree manslaughter a white Oklahoma police officer who says she fired out of fear last year when she killed an unarmed black man with his hands held above his head.
The family of Terence Crutcher burst into tears and reacted with outrage after jurors found Tulsa officer Betty Jo Shelby not guilty in the Sept. 16 shooting.
"Let it be known that I believe in my heart that Betty Shelby got away with murder," Crutcher’s father, Rev. Joey Crutcher, said after the verdict was announced.
A lawyer for Shelby said the officer was "elated" that the jury found her not guilty.
"She’s ready to get back to her life," Defense Attorney Shannon McMurray said.
Shelby looked stone-faced when the verdict was read, but Crutcher’s family was quickly ushered out of the courtroom sobbing and wailing.
At least four of the 12 jurors were crying as they left the courtroom and did not look at either the family of Crutcher or Shelby. The jury comprised eight women and four men and included three African-Americans.[More]
Recently, in a piece called Can Cops Get a Fair Trial in America?, Michelle Malkin wrote:
Until the Shelby case, police under fire remained silent as the social justice mob hijacked the courts of law and public opinion. But Shelby and her lawyers fought back. She sat down with “60 Minutes” correspondent Bill Whitaker last month to describe her state of mind during the encounter with a noncompliant Crutcher, who had the hallucinogenic drug PCP in his system at the time of his death. She adamantly insisted race was not a factor in the shooting and described the “lynch mob” atmosphere in the days since she was charged and put on administrative leave.[More]
When Shelby was dealing with Terence Crutcher, he was on drugs and wouldn’t obey commands to lie down, and he was going back to his car, reaching in it when she shot him.
The charges were presumably caused, as Shelby’s defense pointed out, by prosecutors afraid of black riots. Possibly the acquittal will cause those same riots — it usually does.
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