Jury returns verdict of guilty on Manslaughter and recommends 4 years in prison. Not to contrast with the actual facts of the OHP trooper in Norman, but this is similar where many people including police officers and agencies said his actions were justified and that he followed his training. The jury's decision shows that just because someone violates the law does not allow a police officer to use excessive force. Also, the jury's decision shows that it doesn't matter if the guy could be a threat but whether he was an actual threat. This is an unfortunate case for all involved.

I saw some of the testimony and read the court records. I agree with the verdict. I'm actually surprised the jury found him guilty however.

Another high profile victory for DA David Prater (though bitter sweet).

Well, let's go ahead and contrast the facts, as I believe one must. using onions for apples can make for really bad pie after all.

One incident involved the death of a minor, shot in the back, after he fled from a scuffle with the officer.
The officer considered the fleeing youth a threat and dropped him with a fatal shot.

The other incident involved a bump & roll / containment of a nimrod on a football field, and the arrested chap had no issues the following day.

I can and do agree neither the nimrod nor the minor were threats to the officer, but that about where the similarities end.

In the spirit of the holidays, I can also note if that trooper on game day had pulled a gun and shot the nimrod, I'd have no issues with him being charged to the full extent of the law. Nor sure if that puts me back on anyone's card list or not, but Happy Roasted Critter week to all whether it do or it don't.

Geez . . . And here I was a-thinkin' (innocently) that the Eastland/Martin/Zimmerman cases were travesties of justice. I guess I need to reset my paradigm for the new millennium or whatever. Dang.