A Texas jury has convicted a police officer of a Murder charge in the death of a fifteen year old. The officer invoked “Defense of another” as his justification for the use of lethal force, but the jury heard from the officer who he claimed to be defending testified that he was never in fear for his safety.
Roy Oliver was a Batch Springs, Tx. Police officer when he fired multiple shots at a vehicle fleeing a scene. Those shots resulted in the death of fifteen year old Jordan Evans, who was in the passenger seat leaving a party.
The issue here is that criminal attorneys, no matter how competent he or she is, are unprepared to defend a police officer charged with an on-duty use of force. The “defense of another” is a legal defense for a citizen who uses deadly force. It is an uphill road under the best of circumstances. The standard for a police officer is different as set forth in the United States Supreme Court decision in Graham v Connor.
Fraternal Order of Police attorneys are primarily responsible for Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBAs), filing grievances and representing cops charged with Administrative violations in arbitration. There are few specialists in defending police officers against criminal charges resulting from use of force simply
The question is whether, looking at the charge in the best light for the prosecution, this cases rises to a Murder charge. Murder is the purposeful taking of a human life or the loss of life in the commission of a felony. The latter clearly is inapplicable as the officer was in the performance of his duty as a police officer leaving that he purposely caused the death of Evans. Clearly the shots fired at the vehicle were intentional, but the Graham Standard only requires that he took the actions that a reasonable officer would have taken in a like circumstance.
This shooting is both tragic and indefensible and may well fall within the parameters of Manslaughter or a lower level homicide charge. Common sense would indicate that the officer was not shooting at a passenger in a moving vehicle so the intent level, at best, reaches reckless or negligent. This, like many police shootings, is a tragedy that should have never happened and probably rises to criminal behavior. It does not however rise to Murder.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ex-texas-police-officer-roy-oliver-found-guilty-murder-shooting-n904166