Samuel DuBose Shooting: University Police Officer to Be Retried for Murder

By Ryan Felton, Guardian UK

22 November 16

 

University of Cincinnati officer Ray Tensing to be retried for shooting unarmed black motorist after a jury failed to reach a unanimous verdict earlier this month

n Ohio prosecutor has said he will retry a white university officer who fatally shot an unarmed black motorist during a traffic stop, after a mistrial was declared in the case earlier this month.

Prosecutor Joe Deters of Hamilton County announced on Tuesday his decision to retry former University of Cincinnati police officer Ray Tensing, 26, who shot 43-year-old Samuel DuBose in the head after pulling him over for a missing front license plate on 19 July 2015. A jury failed to reach a unanimous verdict earlier this month on murder and involuntary manslaughter charges brought by Deters.

“It’s very rare that we retry these cases, but the vote totals, and after talking with the jurors, convinced me that we could win this thing,” Deters said at a press conference.

A jury, of which 10 members were white and two were black, deliberated for 25 hours earlier this month before a judge, Megan Shanahan, declared a mistrial.

“We are seeking justice,” Deters said. “It’s my belief that Sam DuBose was murdered, period.”

DuBose, the prosecutor said, was “in trouble a lot like a lot of people”, but that doesn’t “make his life any less relevant or have less value”.

“As I’ve said 100 times, in the country that I love you, don’t get shot in the head for getting pulled over in a traffic stop,” he said.

Deters has previously said that an early straw poll of the jurors found they unanimously supported a murder charge for Tensing, but, at the time an official vote was taken, only a few agreed to vote that way.

The shooting was one of several in recent years across the US that has raised attention to police conduct and treatment. It was revealed at trial that Tensing was wearing a T-shirt with a Confederate flag at the time of the shooting. Earlier this year the University of Cincinnati, which fired Tensing shortly after the incident, reached a $5.3m settlement with DuBose’s family.

A civil attorney for the DuBose family, Al Gerhardstein, told the Guardian this month they “thanked” Deters for his “strong presentation” in the case, but wanted the case to be tried again.

“They made it very, very clear that they definitely want to see the case put before a new jury and that this thing get retried,” he said.

Deters said on Tuesday he would ask for a change of venue. In order to convict Tensing, jurors would have to determine the shooting was unjustified and that the officer didn’t act in self-defense. The charges carry a maximum sentence of life in prison.

From the outset, the prosecutor was vehemently critical of Tensing’s actions during the traffic stop, declaring at the time he was initially charged that he “should have never been an officer”. The former officer’s attorney has repeatedly said that Tensing feared for his life and thought he was being dragged by DuBose’s car. Two responding officers appeared to corroborate Tensing’s story on video footage later released, but Deters declined to charge the pair, saying they were “truthful and honest about what happened and no charges are warranted”.

An independent report found the shooting occurred as a result of “poor police tactics”, while the Hamilton County prosecutor said the officer’s actions were “senseless” and “asinine”. Shortly after the shooting, Tensing was fired from the university police force.

“It troubles me deeply that this happened,” Deters said.