Jury convicts Okla. cop in death of unarmed teen

[hue]

Source: USA TODAY

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — An Oklahoma jury Tuesday convicted a veteran police captain of first-degree manslaughter in the death of an unarmed teenager who was running away after scuffling with the officer.

Del City Police Capt. Randy Trent Harrison shot Dane Scott Jr. in the back on March 14, 2012, following a high-speed chase that began when Harrison tried to pull over Scott's car.

Harrison had previously arrested Scott on drug violations, and prosecutors said his pursuit of the teenager crossed the line from professional to personal. The defense portrayed Scott as a drug dealer and said Harrison believed the teen was reaching for a second weapon after the officer took one gun from him during a scuffle that followed the police chase.

The shooting occurred just a few weeks after the death of Trayvon Martin, the unarmed black teenager killed by a neighborhood watch volunteer in Florida, and the defense suggested early on that prosecutors were influenced to file charges to prevent the type of racial discord that followed that shooting and another high-profile case in Tulsa last year. Harrison is white; Scott was black.

Read more: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/11/26/unarmed-teen-oklahoma-cop-convicted/3759523/

---

A teen shot in the back!!! JC!!

[Blue_Tires]

1. Wow...Even a jury in Okla-fuckin'-homa could see guilt...

Floridians should now be that much more ashamed of themselves...

[avebury]

2. The judge had to kick one of the jurors off of the panel.

Evidentally, she refused to participate in the jury process. She wouldn't vote, discuss the evidence, either for or against the cop.

[Blue_Tires]

3. Well that's strange...

Blood would have been on her hands if her bullshit forced a mistrial...

[liberalhistorian]

11. I'm wondering if that could possibly

be a case of attempted jury nullification on the part of a racist? Sounds like it might be, how utterly bizarre if it isn't.

[avebury]

13. As I noted below, I saw the booted juror on TV

and you couldn't even understand anything she said. I am not sure that she was capable of following the trial. She never should have been put on the jury in the first place.

[pothos]

4. one down

thousands of killer cops left to go

[KamaAina]

5. "the defense suggested early on that prosecutors were influenced to file charges"

to prevent the type of racial discord that followed that (the Trayvon Martin -Ed.) shooting and another high-profile case in Tulsa last year.

You think? Public pressure is the only reason Zimmergun was ever even charged!!

[Blue_Tires]

6. Sadly, Zimmerman's people were able to artfully twist that into:

"The state fabricated a case against an innocent man just to placate raging black citizens, the black attorney general and a gun-grabbing black president..."

And the media (along with a sizeable number of supposed "liberal" DUers) enthusiastically lapped it up like the dogs they are...

[cosmicone]

7. I thought I needed to check my eyeglasses

wow ... I never thought I'd see a cop convicted in my lifetime.

Great news -- one down, hundreds more to go.

[Comrade Grumpy]

8. Stop the presses! A cop actually got convicted.

This is a rare, rare event.

[avebury]

9. Juror booted from jury panel

One of the local stations talked to the juror who was kicked off the panel. You could not even understand her. English was definitely not her first language. I am not sure that she would have been capable of following the trial. She never should have been seated on the panel in the first place.

[liberalhistorian]

10. I'm very pleased to see this, and in

Oklahoma, no less! I think the fact that the poor kid was shot in the back rather negated any possible defense the police officer had. If he'd been threatening the officer and reaching for a second gun, he would not have been shot in the back, for Christ's sake. Why is it so hard for those who commit such crimes to understand that, especially if they're officers? It's nothing short of cowardly, racist murder. So glad to see some actual accountability for this.

[DeSwiss]

12. Well that's one coward convicted......

...only n to go.

- K&R

[therehegoes]

14. They should have lie detectors routinely administered to cops.

Read my story, www.friscopaul.blogspot.com

Just found out that they cut and pasted my indictment after the fact. Now what type of prosecutor would cover up for a lying cop and retroactively alter a government document?