Guest Columnist - White Chicago Cop Kills Black Suspect--Analysis

By Richard J. Chrystie, Nov 06, 2015 Retired Assistant District Attorney, Los Angeles County

I watched the video tape of the Chicago shooting of the teenager.  I saw no legal justification for the shooting.  I saw no threatening conduct by the teenager towards any of the officers present.  I saw nothing on the videotape that would legally justify the shooting.

But having said that, from the videotape it does not appear to be first degree murder.  In California, first degree murder requires a “willful, deliberate and premeditated” unlawful killing of a person with malice aforethought.  That is in Penal Code sections 187 and 189.  There is nothing to indicate premeditation on the videotape.  Unless there is evidence showing the officer premeditated the killing, as defined above, I just don’t see premeditated first degree murder.

But it is second degree murder.  An unlawful killing with malice aforethought but without premeditation is second degree murder.  In California, malice is defined in Penal Code section 188 as follows:

“Malice may be express or implied.  It is express when there is manifested a deliberate intention unlawfully to take away the life of a fellow creature.  It is implied when no considerable provocation appears, or when the circumstances attending the killing show an abandoned and malignant heart.”

Since there was no “considerable provocation” for the shooting, it does appear that implied malice could be found to be true by a jury – justifying a second degree murder verdict.

But it could also be argued, in California, that the shooter should be convicted only of Voluntary Manslaughter.  Voluntary Manslaughter is defined in Penal Code section 192 as the unlawful killing of a human being “upon a sudden quarrel or heat of passion.”  The officer could testify that he saw the man with a knife and without thinking fired in the “heat of passion.”  If the jury believes this, it could render a verdict of Voluntary Manslaughter.

But from what I saw on the tape, a second degree murder verdict would be the most legally appropriate.

Let me raise a couple of more points.  It has been reported that the officer was reloading his gun after shooting the victim – suggesting that he was going to continue shooting the victim.  That is a misinterpretation of his intent.  The fact is officers are trained to immediately reload after shooting their handgun.  That is just automatic.  Also regarding the victim being shot 16 times – officers typically just keep shooting as long as they perceive a threat.  So it is not uncommon for them to fire many more times than later reflection would suggest they needed to fire.  In fact, most officers underestimate the number of shots they have fired in a sudden shooting situation.  They just keep shooting.

Finally, do not minimize the threat posed by a suspect with a knife.  Experimentation has shown that a suspect armed with a knife who is within 15 feet of an officer can charge and stab the officer before he can draw his gun and get off a shot.  In fact, if the suspect is within about six feet, he can charge and stab the officer even if the officer has his gun in his hand.  So if the teenager had turned and while holding his knife begun to run at one of the officers and was within 15 feet of the officers, they would have been justified in shooting him.  But I didn’t see this on the videotape.

Regarding the danger posed by knives, I’d suggest you view the police training film, “Surviving Edged Weapons,” which you can find on You Tube.  Just Google the title.  It is 84 minutes long and after viewing it you’ll wonder why anyone ever becomes a police officer.  It is scary how quickly and unexpectedly officers can be stabbed, slashed, impaled and hacked by persons armed with a knife.

If you don’t want to watch all 84 minutes, go to minute 41 and thereafter where they show simulations of an officer being charged by a person with a knife.  You will see exactly how dangerous a suspect armed with a knife can be even if ten or more feet away from the officer, particularly if the officer is unaware of the knife until the person charges.  “Surviving Edged Weapons.”  Watch it!!

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