Defense expert breaks down video of police shooting
High-profile trial may last into next week
A former New Berlin police officer who helped write the handbook used to train officers in Wisconsin has begun trying to convince a jury that a Brown Deer officer was justified in shooting an unruly, unarmed bus passenger in the back, and why her Taser wasn’t a real option.
After he and another expert in police psychology addressed jurors Wednesday morning, the judge reluctantly informed the jury before their lunch break that the trial, expected to end Wednesday, will instead likely run into next week. It began Feb. 12.
Devon Kraemer, 28, is on trial for aggravated battery with intent to cause great bodily harm over the March 14, 2016, encounter with Manuel Burnley Jr. She and another officer were trying to handcuff the 370pound Burnley when she fired a single shot between his shoulder blades.
Burnley, 28, was hospitalized for 12 days and lost part of a lung. The bullet remains in his body. He testified he was not resisting but expected to be Tased after the officers took him down and couldn’t get him cuffed because of his size.
Robert Willis, 68, explained the many variables officers are trained to consider in assessing the threat posed by any subject. He used many axioms he honed over years of instructing officers: Threat assessment is constant. Hands kill. There’s always a weapon, because the officer has one.
By late Tuesday, he had begun breaking down bus video the jury has seen dozens of times into single frames.
Video, he said, can be misleading. “It’s an illusion,” he said.
In 2015, Willis’ video analysis led to the acquittal of a former Milwaukee police detective who was recorded beating a prisoner handcuffed to a wall in an interrogation room. The same lawyer in that case, Michael Steinle, is defending Kraemer.
Willis also contended it was unreasonable for Kraemer to use a Taser on Burnley. Using slides from the manufacturer, he detailed how they work. He said by the time Kraemer was on the ground struggling with Burnley she probably couldn’t reach her Taser, kept in the “cross draw” position on her belt.
Assistant District Attorney James Griffin earlier presented his own expert, a Harvard-trained lawyer who has also taught use-of-force extensively to law enforcement officers. He told jurors Kraemer’s claimed fears for the officers’ safety were not objectively reasonable and fell far short standards for use of force.