From [HERE] A white Fairfax County jury found a former police sergeant not guilty Friday of involuntary manslaughter in the killing of a black man suspected of shoplifting last year, but convicted him of a lesser gun charge, determining that he bore some criminal responsibility in the shooting.

The jury spent 11 hours deliberating in the case against Wesley Shifflett, who prosecutors argued had no justification for shooting Timothy McCree Johnson outside of the Tysons Corner Center mall after giving chase over allegations that Johnson had stolen sunglasses. It ultimately found him guilty him of recklessly handling a firearm, which carries a maximum penalty of five years imprisonment.

The decision punctuated a winding path to accountability for the office of Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano, which twice brought the case to a grand jury — an unconventional move that yielded just the second indictment of a Fairfax County officer in an on-duty shooting in the department’s 84-year history.

Lawyers for Shifflett argued throughout the trial that he was simply doing his job when he fired two times at Timothy Johnson, 37, in a dark area after giving chase. Police officers, they said, with backing from law enforcement experts at trial, are trained to fire twice when they believe they are in danger, and Shifflett believed he saw Johnson reach for his waistband. Prosecutors painted Shifflett as a man who — in a moment of unreasonable panic — made a reckless decision with lethal consequences.

In body-camera footage played repeatedly for the jury, Johnson, who prosecutors said was not armed, could be heard asking for help as he lay dying: “I don’t have nothing. I’m shot, man, please. Hurry.”

Carl Crews, an attorney for the Johnson family, said after the family watched the video of the incident stated,

“The best way to describe the video is to say first what was not on it,” said Carl Crews, an attorney for the family, after viewing the footage Wednesday. “What it doesn’t show: danger. It doesn’t show the officers faced any danger — imminent or otherwise. “This was an execution by Fairfax County police officers,” Crews said.”

Unfortunately the video is dark and unclear - thereby enabling a jury of sheeple to indulge the cop-actor’s performance of theatricks about an imaginary gun in a scary Black man’s hand.

The trial, which began Sept. 17, neared mistrial three times before the case landed in jurors’ hands: once when the lead prosecutor experienced a medical emergency that delayed proceedings for a week, once when defense lawyers filed, then withdrew, a motion for mistrial after a witness testified without his lawyers present and once when prosecutors played an unadmitted portion of Shifflett’s body-camera footage during closing arguments.

Melissa Johnson paced the halls outside the courtroom for hours on Friday as she awaited the verdict, swinging a silver necklace that contained her son’s ashes. At a table nearby, a group of mothers whose sons had also been killed by the police sat and prayed.

At times, Johnson closed her eyes and sang.

“Jesus, Jesus,” she sang. “Precious Jesus, we have the victory.”

Prosecutors sought to show jurors that Johnson did not have to die, saying there were alternatives Shifflett did not take. Shifflett could have waited for backup, taken cover, used the flashlight on his gun, they told jurors.

They called Collins Kenlak, the assistant asset protection manager at the Nordstrom at the time, to testify that he was confused about why officers had chased Johnson at all.

Although prosecutors said Johnson ultimately was found to have stolen two pairs of sunglasses valued at about $850 from the store, store surveillance footage shows he had returned the glasses store workers first alerted police about. “As soon as those glasses were returned, I made it clear we don’t have any reason to approach him,” Kenlak said.

The threat Shifflett perceived never existed, prosecutors told jurors. Johnson was suspected of a nonviolent crime and did not have a gun, facts they argued rendered Shifflett’s fear unreasonable.

“Reason cannot be found in what ifs and maybes and the facts here are clear: Mr. Johnson was unarmed and fleeing,” Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Natheena Tyler said during her closing argument Wednesday. “Fear alone is not enough to justify the use of force.”