Click here to subscribe today or Login.
CINCINNATI (AP) — An Ohio prosecutor could soon announce whether there will be a new trial for a white former University of Cincinnati police officer, after a jury couldn’t agree on a verdict in the fatal shooting of a black man during a traffic stop.
Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters (DEE’-turs) scheduled a Tuesday morning news conference in the Ray Tensing case.
A judge declared a mistrial Nov. 12 when jurors deadlocked after deliberating some 25 hours on charges of murder and voluntary manslaughter in the July 2015 shooting of Sam DuBose.
Tensing’s attorney, Stewart Mathews, has asked the judge to acquit Tensing. He said Monday he expects Deters to retry Tensing on the same charges.
Tensing testified that he feared for his life when DuBose tried to drive away.
DuBose family members, the Cincinnati City Council and groups including faith leaders have pushed for a new murder trial.
Prosecutors said repeatedly during the trial the evidence contradicted Tensing’s story. Deters said after the mistrial the jury was leaning toward a conviction on voluntary manslaughter.
The jury of 10 whites and two blacks was seated Oct. 31 for the first trial.
To convict Tensing, now 27, of murder, jurors had to find he purposely killed DuBose, 43. The charge carries a possible sentence of 15 years to life in prison with conviction. The voluntary manslaughter charge means the killing happened during sudden passion or a fit of rage. That carries a possible sentence of three to 11 years.
Deters had said immediately after the trial that he expected to make his decision by Nov. 28 on whether to retry Tensing. That’s the date the judge set for a hearing in the case.
The case is one of several across the country calling attention to how police deal with blacks.
___
Follow Dan Sewell at http://www.twitter.com/dansewell
For some of his other recent stories: http://bigstory.ap.org/content/dan-sewell