COLUMBIA,
S.C. (AP) -- Prosecutors in the Carolinas have charged at least
five white officers recently with felonies after on-duty shootings of
black men, but they're finding that getting jurors to send them to
prison can be a far more difficult challenge.
Solicitor
Donnie Myers still believes officer Justin Craven committed a felony
when he ran up to Ernest Satterwhite's car and fired repeatedly through
his window as the 68-year-old drunken-driver sat in his driveway after
leading officers on a 13-mile chase.
But when
he tried to indict Craven for voluntary manslaughter, the grand jury
refused, returning a misdemeanor misconduct charge instead. Myers told
The Associated Press that he decided then that the only way to get any
justice for the dead driver was to offer a plea deal to this lesser
charge.
After all, if a grand jury, with its
rules favoring prosecutors, couldn't be convinced of the seriousness of
Craven's actions, getting a unanimous verdict from a regular jury would
be even more difficult, Myers said.
"We've got to convince all 12. All the defense has to do is convince one," Myers said.
Craven
was sentenced to three years' probation and 80 hours of community
service after pleading guilty on Monday. The indictment accused him of
"using excessive force and failing to follow and use proper procedures."
It's
a challenge for prosecutors as more police officers are charged with
on-duty crimes: Unless there is evidence of obvious bad intentions,
jurors are often wary of second-guessing an officer's judgment call,
said Tom Nolan, a professor of criminology at Merrimack College in
Massachusetts.
"People have been conditioned
by what they see on television to think that police officers face
dangerous situations all the time," said Nolan, who was a Boston police
officer for 27 years. "They give leeway, thinking these extreme
situations happen frequently."
Craven's
dashboard camera from February 2014 shows him charging up to
Satterwhite's open window, gun in hand, and reaching inside with both
arms. A struggle ensues inside the car, beyond the camera's view.
Craven said Satterwhite tried to grab his gun. The video shows him stepping back from the car before firing.
The
video has no audio to tell what was being said because the battery on
Craven's body microphone had gone dead, State Law Enforcement Division
spokesman Thom Berry said.
Craven is the third
white officer in the past year to avoid any time behind bars after
being accused of felonies for killing a black man in the Carolinas.
Another
officer, North Charleston's Michael Slager, is under house arrest
waiting for his murder trial for fatally shooting a fleeing black
motorist. And former state Trooper Sean Groubert is in jail facing up to
20 years in prison after pleading guilty in March to aggravated assault
and battery for shooting a black man who was reaching for his driver's
license at the officer's request.
Prosecutors
charged former Eutawville Police Chief Richard Combs with murder for
shooting a man trying to leave a police station, saying he escalated the
confrontation. But after two hung juries, prosecutor David Pascoe
agreed to a misdemeanor misconduct in office conviction and a year of
home detention. Pascoe said he doubted he could ever get a unanimous
verdict in that case, the most polarizing of his 20-year career.
North
Carolina prosecutors dropped a voluntary manslaughter charge against
Charlotte police officer Randall Kerrick after a jury voted 8-4 to
acquit him in the shooting of a black motorist who had knocked on a door
seeking help after a car wreck.
In Craven's
case, the officer's defense team rejected the plea offer for more than a
year, even after Myers persuaded a different grand jury to indict him
on the felony charge of firing into an occupied vehicle, carrying up to
10 years in prison.
Craven finally took the deal as his trial loomed this week, and Myers said he couldn't rescind the offer at that point.
"I
couldn't back up on that. It had been offered," Myers said. Besides:
"It would have been a tough trial. Based on the chase - it would have
been a tough matter."
Satterwhite's relatives
accepted a nearly $1.2 million settlement from the city of North Augusta
in April 2015 after suing the police department, and the criminal
conviction could make it difficult for the 27-year-old Craven to serve
again in law enforcement. He currently works as a building inspector for
the city.
Defense lawyer Jack Swerling said
it was a mistake in judgment to rush up to the driver, but said Craven's
concern was justified because the 13-minute chase, also captured on
dashcam video, showed him swerving into oncoming traffic and off the
side of the road, and hitting at least two other cars.
State
police later said Satterwhite's blood-alcohol content was 0.15 percent,
nearly twice the legal limit. Court records show the car mechanic had
more than a dozen traffic violations, including at least three times
when he refused to stop for police. The same records also showed that he
was never violent toward officers.
Elected
prosecutors face pressure from voters who want them to be fair, but not
too tough on the people protecting them, Nolan said.
In
Myers' case, getting re-elected is no longer a concern. After 40 years
as an elected prosecutor, he decided last month not to run again after
his own arrest in February on a charge of driving under the influence.
