Charges Dismissed Against Joseph Weekley, Cop Who Fatally Shot Sleeping 7-Year-Old [UPDATE]
The Detroit police officer who fatally shot a sleeping 7-year-old girl will not be retried, officials said Wednesday.
Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said in a statement that her office was moving to dismiss the case against Officer Joseph Weekley. He was originally charged with involuntary manslaughter and careless discharge of a firearm causing death, a misdemeanor, after Aiyana Stanley-Jones was killed in 2010 during a botched police raid at her home.
Weekley’s first trial in 2013 ended in a mistrial. In a second trial last year, Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Cynthia Gray Hathaway dismissed the manslaughter charge after a motion by the defense. The jury again deadlocked while deliberating whether to convict Weekley of the lesser charge, causing a second mistrial.
“Today we personally informed the family of Aiyana Stanley–Jones that we have made a decision that we would not be going to trial for a third time in the Joseph Weekley case,” Worthy said, calling Hathaway’s decision to dismiss the manslaughter charge “unfortunate.”
Shortly after midnight on May 16, 2010, members of the Detroit Police Department’s Special Response Team initiated a raid on the Stanley-Jones home in search of a murder suspect. Weekley was first through the door and allegedly had difficulty seeing when another officer threw a a flash-bang grenade. Weekley fired his gun, killing Aiyana, who had been asleep on the couch with her grandmother.
Weekley maintained that he only shot because the grandmother, Mertilla Jones, struck his gun. She denied touching his weapon, and at trial the prosecution questioned why Weekley had his finger on the trigger.
As activists around the country have widely protested the police killings of unarmed black individuals, including Eric Garner in New York City and Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, Detroiters have added Aiyana’s name to the list of victims. In October, Roland Lawrence, chairman of the Justice for Aiyana Committee, condemned the judge’s decision to dismiss the manslaughter charge against Weekley.
“Surely, the death of a baby by a well-trained police force must be deemed unacceptable in a civilized society,” Lawrence said in a statement at the time.
The prosecution will move to dismiss the case against Weekley Friday morning.
UPDATE, Jan. 30: — The case against Weekley has officially been dismissed.
Wayne County Circuit Judge Cynthia Gray Hathaway dismissed the charge of careless discharge causing injury or death in court Friday morning, the Detroit Free Press reports. The Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office requested the case be dropped rather than pursue a third trial for Weekley after two mistrials.
Another Mistrial In Case Of Officer Who Shot Sleeping 7-Year-Old To Death
A mistrial has been declared in the trial of the Detroit police officer who shot a sleeping 7-year-old to death.
The Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office said that Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Cynthia Gray Hathaway declared a mistrial Friday after the jury deadlocked. Jurors had been deliberating over a misdemeanor charge for Officer Joseph Weekley, who killed Aiyana Stanley-Jones during a botched 2010 police raid.
“No matter the outcome of any jury’s decision, I have already been devastated and my life has been ruined irreparably by the events that occurred on May 16, 2010,” Weekley said in a statement, according to the Detroit News.
“No parent ever deserves to lose a child, regardless of the circumstances,” he also said. “I know in my heart and before God that what transpired that day was out of my control, but I will still have terrible grief weigh upon me every day for the rest of my life.”
The jury began deliberating Tuesday on the charge of careless discharge of a firearm causing death, which carries a sentence of up to two years in prison. Jurors would later tell the court they were having difficulty reaching a decision.
Weekley went into the trial last month charged additionally with a count of involuntary manslaughter, which carries a 15-year maximum prison sentence. The judge dismissed the charge during the trial after a motion by the defense, citing a lack of evidence.
Roland Lawrence, chairman of the Justice for Aiyana Jones Committee, said in a statement Friday that the trial was both a “travesty and a comedy.”
“This trial is a travesty because the judicial system allowed the death of a child by a well-trained police agency to go unpunished,” he said. “It is comedy because the people of [southeast] Michigan actually think that Aiyana’s family is responsible for Aiyana’s death.”
Shortly after midnight on May 16, 2010, Weekley entered the Stanley-Jones home. He was the first through the door as part of the Detroit Special Response Team’s search for a murder suspect. As a crew filmed for an A&E reality series about murder investigations, another officer is said to have thrown a flash-bang grenade, allegedly making it difficult for Weekley to see. Weekley then fired the shot that killed Aiyana, who was sleeping on the couch with her grandmother, Mertilla Jones.
In court, Weekley maintained that Jones struck his gun, which caused him to shoot. Jones, a primary witness in the trial, denied doing so or being close to Weekley. The prosecution argued that Weekley shouldn’t have had his finger on the trigger of his gun, per his professional training.
“The only evidence that points to any kind of knowingly creating a danger or intending to cause injury, the only testimony is that of Mertilla Jones, which is by its nature and by comparison to the other testimony, including the medical examiner, is completely and totally unbelievable,” Weekley’s lawyer, Steve Fishman, told the judge last week.
The shooting of the black child by a white officer, who continues to work on the Detroit police force, has caused some to draw parallels to other cases of police shootings and to criticize the justice system’s handling of cases involving police officers and black victims.
Several weeks before Weekley’s latest trial began, a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, shot unarmed, black 18-year-old Michael Brown, sparking mass protests, a heightened police response and nationwide conversations about institutional racism in police forces across the country. Before Weekley’s trial began, potential jurors were asked questions about the Ferguson shooting and police militarization and whether their thoughts might influence their decision in the case.
Last year, Mertilla Jones drew a connection between her granddaughter’s death and that of black teen Trayvon Martin, who was unarmed when he was shot by neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman in Florida. She spoke during a rally after Zimmerman was acquitted.
“I’m out here to fight any way for the other Aiyanas that’s to come,” she said, “because it ain’t stop at just my grandbaby.”
Weekley was tried last year for involuntary manslaughter in Aiyana’s death, but the first jury also failed to come to a decision. The next court date in the case has been set for Nov. 21.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/10/joseph-weekley-mistrial-verdict_n_5965362.html
