So finds a Baltimore City Jury. The story by Erica Green in the Sun.
Sanders testified that Hunt assaulted him during a drug arrest at Hamilton Park Shopping Center two years ago, and that if Hunt hadn’t reached for his pocket while running away, the five-year veteran wouldn’t have shot him twice in the back.
The jury began deliberating Friday afternoon and returned the not-guilty verdict a little more than three hours later.
…
At the time of the shooting, Hunt was on probation for assaulting and eluding a police officer. He faced two years in prison if arrested again.Belsky [Sanders’ laywer] emphasized that the case was all about whether his client acted reasonably.
“This is a good man who did nothing wrong,” Belsky said after the verdict. “The state’s attorney’s office should spend its time trying to foster good relations with the Police Department instead of prosecuting good police officers. That’s how we’ll solve the crime problem in Baltimore.”
Comments
13 responses to “Baltimore Officer Not-Guilty in 2008 Shooting”
The prosecution called eight witnesses who testified that they never saw Hunt reaching into his jacket as he fled and never saw Hunt assault the officer.
Sounds like the policeman lied.
If this were a drinking game, we'd all have to chug now!
Indeed PCM. Cleanville is that predictable. A bit of a "Johnny One Note," I suppose.
I don't know who is telling the truth here, but Cleanville seems to think that people living in the middle of open air drug markets would never ever lie about police actions. Theoretically, don't they have motivations to lie too(ie.intimidation from associates of the victim, desire to see a police officer, any police officer, go to jail, etc.)?
Again, I don't know who is lying or telling the truth. Perhaps the officer is just jumpy (this is a real problem in law enforcement). But if we didn't have a damn drug war, this incident probably wouldn't have happened. Maybe people should focus on that too.
Dave- IL
Yeah. Combined with a generally unsympathic Baltimore City jury.
Some time before I was on the street an officer shot a killed a guy in some public housing courtyard. The guy was not armed. The officer said he had the guy at gunpoint and shot when the guy reached for his pocket.
Witnesses started appearing from nowhere saying the guy had his hands in the air, that he was shot in the back, that he was executed, and all and none of the above (God help the police if such "witnesses" ever got together to actually tell the *same* lie).
Anyway, it didn't look for the officer: his story against many witnesses (a few of whom might actually have been there).
When the autopsy report came back, it noted that there was one bullet hole in the jean pocket of the victim that matched the bullet hole in the victim's hand. The officer shot the guy's hand when his hand was in his pocket. Very lucky. The shooting was ruled justified.
His testimony revealed that key evidence for the defense, 4.4 grams of marijuana that Sanders said he saw in Hunt's possession and the handcuffs he said he attempted to use during the arrest, were not submitted with the rest of the evidence collected by crime lab technicians from the scene the day Hunt was killed. Those items were submitted later by Sanders' supervisor, Moran said.
Throwdown.
I know you can't be convinced, but for other people reading:
Cops don't leave drugs laying around the street for crime lab to collect. Nor do they leave their handcuffs.
Sanders later said he advised someone to go back and get handcuffs that were on the ground in the parking lot.
Nor do they leave their handcuffs.
Like I said, he lied.
Uh, exactly. He didn't leave them for crime lab to take.
And CHUG!
He didn't leave them for crime lab to take.
He says he did leave them at the scene. That is his story.
His story is a lie. The handcuffs never came off of his belt. But his story is that he left his handcuffs on the ground at the scene.
Of course, the worse lie is the throwdown mj.
chug!
Great post, It defirnitely is worth considering
'The prosecution called eight witnesses who testified that they never saw Hunt reaching into his jacket as he fled and never saw Hunt assault the officer'
It's funny (or sad) that people keep talking about eyewitnesses as if they have some authority. It has been proven time and again that even well trained people who witness high stress incidents have trouble with acurate recall. Oh and CHUG!
PCM, are you aquinted with this study?: truthinjustice.org/navy-study.htm
I pop that url up everytime someone who "just knows" they are right because of some reported "eye witness" .