From [HERE] A member of an elite Detroit police unit is set to stand trial again for killing a seven-year-old girl during a 2010 raid on her house that was captured on video by a reality TV crew.

Nobody alleges that Officer Joseph Weekley intended to kill Aiyana Stanley-Jones, who had been sleeping on a couch near the front door when officers burst through around midnight in search of a murder suspect. But prosecutors charged him with involuntary manslaughter because they believe he handled his submachine gun recklessly, causing the girl’s death. Weekley is white and Jones was Black.

Jury selection starts on Monday in Wayne County court, 15 months after Weekley’s first trial ended with the mostly white jury [11 white] unable to agree on a verdict. [MORE]

The night Aiyana Jones was killed, Detroit police's Special Response Team were searching for murder suspect, Chauncey Owens, who was engaged to Aiyana's aunt, in connection with the May 14, 2010, murder of 18-year-old Jerean Blake. Weekley was a member of this SWAT unit. After obtaining a search warrant, police kicked in the front door of the home on Lillibridge, where Owens was thought to be hiding. 

They threw a flashbang grenade into the downstairs flat of a multi-family home about 12:40 a.m. and Weekley was accused of firing the bullet that struck and killed the girl, who was sleeping on the couch in the front room of the home. The "flash-bang" light-emitting grenade was meant to distract suspects. 

Weekley was first through the door, with a shield in one hand and a gun in the other. He claims he accidentally pulled the trigger when Aiyana’s grandmother, Mertilla Jones, grabbed his submachine gun. She denies that she interfered in any way.

During Weekley’s first trial, a fellow officer, Shawn Stallard, testified that he did not see anyone struggle with Weekley. He said Detroit police are trained to push away anyone who tries to grab an officer’s gun or to move the weapon in a “J’’ shape to keep control of it.

Aiyana's family, represented by Geoffrey Feiger [in video] in a pending civil case, claims police attempted to cover up the fatal mistake from the very beginning.

Weekley told jurors: “I just feel devastated and depressed. I’ll never be the same, no.”

On the third day of deliberations, loud voices could be heard coming from the jury room. Jurors later told the judge they couldn’t reach a verdict.

Spokeswoman Maria Miller said the prosecutor’s office still believes it has a strong case, which is why it decided to put Weekley on trial again.

Mark Diaz, union president of the Detroit Police Officers Association, said he was disappointed by the decision.

“I understand there is a certain part of the public that is crying foul on this. But knowing what we know, there was no malicious intent ... He went in there to protect the citizens of Detroit from a man wanted for murder,” Diaz said.