Minnesota police officer acquitted of manslaughter charge in fatal shooting of Philando Castile
06/16/2017 1:20 pm PDT
UPDATE 7:40 p.m. ET: Officials in St. Anthony, Minn., where Jeronimo Yanez worked as a police officer, said he will not return to the police department from leave after the trial, The Washington Post reports .
They said they have decided “the public will be best served if Officer Yanez is no longer a police officer in our city.”
MINNESOTA -- (WITI) -- Jeronimo Yanez, the Minnesota police officer who fatally shot Philando Castile during a traffic stop last year, was found not guilty of second-degree manslaughter Friday.
He also was acquitted of two counts of intentional discharge of firearm that endangers safety.
[Previous update, posted at 3:41 p.m. ET]
A Minnesota jury has reached a verdict in the manslaughter trial of Jeronimo Yanez, the officer who fatally shot Philando Castile during a traffic stop last year.
Yanez is on trial for one count of second-degree manslaughter and two counts of intentional discharge of firearm that endangers safety because Castile's girlfriend and her 4-year-old daughter were also in the car.
Castile's death garnered widespread attention after his girlfriend broadcast the shooting's aftermath on Facebook Live.
The jury deliberated about 29 hours.
During the two-week trial, prosecutors portrayed Yanez as a nervous officer who lost control of his traffic stop. He was too quick to pull the trigger after learning Castile had a gun based on an unreasonable suspicion that he was a robbery suspect, prosecutors said.
Yanez testified he feared for his life because Castile reached for his firearm, despite being instructed not to do.
FULL STORY: Minnesota police officer acquitted of manslaughter charge in fatal shooting of motorist - WITI
