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U.S. NEWS Saturday 16 September 2017
Crowds gather to protest former St. Louis officer acquittal

Continued from Front saying he was “going to kill
this (expletive), don’t you
That officer was never know it.” Less than a minute
charged but eventually re- later, the officer shot Smith
signed. five times. Stockley’s lawyer
Stockley, who was charged dismissed the comment as
with first-degree murder, in- “human emotions” uttered
sisted he saw Anthony La- during a dangerous police
mar Smith holding a gun pursuit. The judge wrote
and felt he was in immi- that the statement “can
nent danger. Prosecutors be ambiguous depending
said the officer planted a on the context.”
gun in Smith’s car after the Prosecutors objected to
shooting. The officer asked the officer’s request for a
the case to be decided by bench trial. The Constitu-
a judge instead of a jury. tion guarantees the right of
“This court, in conscience, criminal suspects to have
cannot say that the State their cases heard “by an
has proven every element impartial jury.” But defen-
of murder beyond a rea- dants can also opt to have
sonable doubt or that the the verdict rendered by a
State has proven beyond a judge. Stockley, 36, could
reasonable doubt that the A group of men carry rifles as they walk with a group of protesters, Friday, Sept. 15, 2017, in have been sentenced to
defendant did not act in downtown St. Louis, after a judge found a white former St. Louis police officer, Jason Stockley, not up to life in prison without
self-defense,” St. Louis Cir- guilty of first-degree murder in the death of a black man, Anthony Lamar Smith, who was fatally parole. He left the St. Louis
cuit Judge Timothy Wilson shot following a high-speed chase in 2011. police force in 2013 and
wrote in the decision . (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson) moved to Houston.q
In a written statement, St. The head of the St. Louis
Louis Circuit Attorney Kim chapter of the NAACP
Gardner acknowledged asked President Donald
the difficulty of winning Trump and the Justice De-
police shooting cases but partment to review the ac-
said prosecutors believe quittal.
they “offered sufficient Assistant Circuit Attorney
evidence that proved be- Robert Steele emphasized
yond a reasonable doubt” during the trial that po-
that Stockley intended to lice dashcam video of the
kill Smith. chase captured Stockley

Justice Department refocuses

police reform on fighting crime

By SADIE GURMAN lowed cities to voluntarily
Associated Press seek assistance from the
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department on is-
Justice Department said sues such as use-of-force
Friday it will roll back an and de-escalating con-
Obama-era program that frontations on the street.
aimed to help police de- Federal officials would
partments build communi- then conduct wholesale
ty trust, often after racially investigations of the police
charged encounters, and departments and make
focus it instead on helping non-binding recommen-
cities arrest violent crimi- dations for how they could
nals and dismantle gangs. improve, periodically mon-
The move marked another itoring their progress.
shift away from Obama Unlike the court-enforce-
administration priorities able consent decrees that
and federal scrutiny of were a hallmark of the
local law enforcement, Obama administration’s
which Attorney General efforts to overhaul trou-
Jeff Sessions believes can bled police agencies, the
wrongly malign police collaborative agreements
departments and hurt of- run by the department’s
ficer morale. Police are a Community Oriented Po-
major constituency for the licing Services, or COPS, of-
Trump administration as it fice were largely optional,
espouses a law-and-order and some cities had found
agenda. them helpful in repairing
The program known as frayed relationships with
“collaborative reform” al- the community. q