ATLANTA: Faced with deadlocked jurors, a judge on Tuesday declared a mistrial in the case of three former Georgia sheriff’s deputies accused of murdering a Black man whom they had repeatedly shocked with stun guns during a 2017 arrest.
Senior Judge H. Gibbs Flanders Jr. granted the defense motions for mistrials on the charges against Henry Lee Copeland, Michael Howell and Rhett Scott in the death of Eurie Martin, 58. The jury foreman told the judge that no juror in the Sandersville courtroom had changed their mind since Friday, the first day of deliberations, and that more time was unlikely to lead to the unanimity needed for convictions or acquittals.
Martin, who had a history of schizophrenia, was walking through the central Georgia town of Deepstep on a scorching day in July 2017, taking a 30-mile (50-kilometer) journey to see his relatives when a resident called 911 to report Martin as suspicious.
It wasnt immediately clear if Washington County prosecutors intend to retry the case against the fired deputies. The three men remain under indictment and are free on bail.
Prosecutors argued Copeland, Howell and Scott, all white men, had no reason to detain Martin.
Defense attorneys, though, said Martin had illegally walked in the road, littered when he dropped a soft drink can, and took an aggressive stance and obstructed an officer when he didn’t obey the commands of the deputies. They also argued that the stun gun didn’t cause Martin’s death, which means officers were not assaulting him with a deadly weapon, a key underlying element of one of the murder charges.
Defense lawyer Mark Shaefer told jurors in closing arguments that Martin was not allowed to walk away and the officers’ actions were justified, calling it a tragic, tragic accident but not a crime.
Assistant District Attorney Kelly Weathers, though, argued that a death was not an accident “if your actions are in reckless disregard of what is foreseeable.
Howell and Scott, but not Copeland, testified in their own defense.
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Follow Jeff Amy on Twitter at http://twitter.com/jeffamy.
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