Jury in officer’s trial gets fresh look at videos

ST. PAUL, Minn. — A jury weighing the fate of a Minnesota police officer charged with manslaughter in the shooting death of a black motorist asked Tuesday to rewatch two key videos.

In their second day of deliberations, jurors returned to court to again see dashcam video captured by Officer Jeronimo Yanez’s squad car that shows the shooting of 32-yearold Philando Castile. Yanez shot Castile five times last July during a traffic stop in a St. Paul suburb, just seconds after Castile informed him he was carrying a gun.

The jury also watched a replay of the video that Castile’s girlfriend, Diamond Reynolds, livestreamed on Facebook beginning seconds after Castile had been shot.

The jury also requested transcripts of squad car audio and of Yanez’s statement to state investigators the day after the shooting, but the judge denied the request because defense attorneys did not agree.

The squad-car video shows a view of the traffic stop and the shooting, with the camera pointed toward Castile’s car. While it captures what was said between the two men and shows Yanez firing into the vehicle, it does not show what happened inside the car or what Yanez might have seen.

Reynolds’ video of the gruesome aftermath of the shooting was shared widely and included her statements that Castile hadn’t been reaching for his gun. Defense attorneys highlighted inconsistencies in Reynolds’ statements to investigators to try to raise doubts about her honesty.