» Sherman Park trial:

Reaction to a highly anticipated body camera video prompts a mistrial request by lawyers for a former police officer charged with on-duty homicide.

Highly anticipated body camera video prompted an emotional and dramatic reaction among spectators Wednesday, prompting a mistrial request by lawyers for a former police officer charged with on-duty homicide.

Dominique HeagganBrown, 25, is on trial for firstdegree reckless homicide in the Aug. 13, 2016, incident that ignited two days of violent unrest in the Sherman Park area.

Heaggan-Brown was fired from the Milwaukee Police Department in October after he was charged in an unrelated sexual assault.

The video evidence had not been seen in public before Wednesday. It was taken by a camera worn by Ndiva Malafa, another officer who was behind Heaggan-Brown as he chased Sylville Smith, 23, into a gangway after he ran, with a gun, from an attempted traffic stop near N. 44th St. and W. Auer Ave. about 3:30 p.m.

After it was first shown at full speed, several members of Smith’s family gasped or cried out, and some immediately stood and left the courtroom. One young man doubled over in his seat and kept loudly sobbing for several seconds.

Lawyers asked to speak with Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Jeffrey Conen, who sent the jury out and met in chambers with the lawyers before defense attorney Steve Kohn asked, on the record, for a mistrial, which Conen denied.

Conen, who issued an unusually strict and detailed order about attendance at the trial and is keeping the jury sequestered, said he tries to walk a fine line between victims’ and the defendant’s rights.

Some reaction to such disturbing video is understandable, he said, and it’s hard to say what’s too much.

“But I’ll know it when I see it,” he said.

When jurors finally returned after more than an hour, he reminded them to disregard anything they may have noticed in the gallery.

In real time, the jerky video barely reveals anything in the 12 seconds from the time the foot chase begins to the fatal shot.

But in frame-by-frame replay, it showed Smith rising from the ground near a fence across a gangway between two duplexes. With one hand on the fence he reaches down for his gun, which officials believe he must have dropped when he slipped, or when he ran into the fence and fell.

It shows Smith being shot in the right bicep by Heaggan Brown’s first shot, falling to his back, and then his legs violently flopping up over his torso after the second shot, to his chest, as Heaggan-Brown stood about 3 feet away.

Later in the video, Malafa locates Smith’s gun, which he threw about 30 feet beyond the fence as he was being shot in the arm, and then performs rescue breathing on Smith as other officers took turns doing chest compressions.

On cross-examination, Malafa said he feared for his life, and Heaggan-Brown’s, during the brief chase because he knew Smith had a gun. He also admitted that during an interview five days after the shooting, he told investigators he heard Heaggan-Brown loudly tell Smith, “drop the gun” when he first confronted him at the fence.

The defense says Heaggan Brown acted in self-defense when he shot Smith, fearing he might have a second gun. The trial is expected to last into next week.

Smith’s gun can be seen leaving his hand as he throws it over a fence as Heaggan-Brown fires, striking Smith in the right bicep. Less than two seconds later, Heaggan-Brown fired a fatal shot while Smith was on the ground.

In a still image from a police officer body camera, Sylville Smith is seen falling to the ground with a gun leaving his hand as officers Dominique Heaggan-Brown and Nvida Malafa pursue.

In this frame, Smith is lifting the gun he dropped by the barrel. Heaggan-Brown’s lawyer says that at this point he orders Smith repeatedly to drop the gun.

In this frame, Heaggan-Brown points his weapon at Smith as Smith reaches for his gun, which he dropped during the chase.