Minnesota Police Officer Found Not Guilty In Shooting Death Of Philando Castile

People in November 2016 gather at J.J. Hill Montessori Magnet School, where Philando Castile worked, in St. Paul, Minn., after charges were filed against St. Anthony police Officer Jeronimo Yanez.

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After five days of deliberations, a jury has found a Minnesota police officer not guilty on all counts over his deadly shooting of a black man during a traffic stop last July in Falcon Heights, a suburb of St. Paul, Minn.

Castile, a 32-year-old school cafeteria worker, was driving with his girlfriend and her 4-year-old daughter when they were pulled over by St. Anthony police Officer Jeronimo Yanez.

"Seventy-four seconds after Yanez activated his squad lights, he fired the last of seven shots into the car," Minnesota Public Radio's Matt Sepic reported.

Yanez was charged last November with one count of felony second-degree manslaughter in Castile's death. He also faced two felony counts of intentional discharge of a dangerous weapon over allegedly endangering Castile's girlfriend, Diamond Reynolds, and her daughter. He pleaded not guilty.

St. Anthony police Officer Jeronimo Yanez, in an image provided by the Ramsey County Sheriff's Office.

AP

The incident drew national attention when Reynolds started live-streaming the immediate aftermath of the exchange on Facebook, as Castile lay dying and her daughter sat in the back seat.

"In the stream," as The Two-Way reported, "she said Castile was stopped for a broken taillight, had notified the officer that he was licensed to carry a handgun and was reaching for his wallet at the officer's request when he was shot."

The video was a crucial piece of evidence during the trial, along with dashcam video from the police vehicle. As MPR reported, jurors requested to review both of these videos again Tuesday during their deliberations.

Yanez said in court that "he was forced to shoot Castile because the driver was not complying with the officer's commands and was reaching for a gun. Yanez previously testified he'd stopped Castile because the driver resembled a suspect in a local convenience store robbery days earlier," MPR reported.

Yanez's defense attorneys also maintained that Castile was high at the time of the shooting.

However, the member station adds that prosecutors "say Yanez never saw Castile's gun, never told officers who responded to the scene or to his police dispatcher that there was a gun and shot recklessly, killing Castile."
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Castile was licensed to carry the weapon.

The shooting last July sparked protests, as we reported, and Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton described the incident and its aftermath as "absolutely appalling at all levels."