Potential jurors warned of ‘intense atmosphere’ as trooper faces charge of manslaughter
MILFORD — Jury selection began Wednesday in the manslaughter trial of a state trooper on a somewhat unusual note: the prosecution and defense telling prospective jurors they essentially agree with each other about what happened.
Representing the state, Inspector General Robert Devlin told potential jurors that the trooper, Brian North, shot and killed Mubarak Soulemane Jan. 15, 2020 on Campbell Avenue in West Haven while on duty. The question to be decided at the trial, he said, will be whether North’s use of deadly force was necessary.
“The brief recitation of facts by Attorney Devlin is correct,” North’s lawyer, Frank Riccio, said while introducing himself.
Judge H. Gordon Hall told prospective jurors that testimony for the trial is scheduled from March 4 to March 15. A panel of six jurors and three alternates will hear testimony.
The shooting occurred at the end of a state police chase of a car Soulemane stole at knifepoint in Norwalk, after police said he also pulled a knife on an AT&T store employee earlier in the day. In the days following the shooting, Soulemane’s family disclosed he battled with schizophrenia. While he had never been violent and had no criminal record, police said they had previously taken him to the hospital for treatment.
Soulemane’s mother, Omo Mohammed, attended Wednesday’s proceedings with two of Soulemane’s siblings and Mark Arons, an attorney representing them in a civil lawsuit.
After both lawyers read a list of people they work with and potential witnesses, the judge asked the first panel of 14 whether any of them would have trouble, one woman
raised her hand. She was excused after she said outside the presence of the others that she had read a lot about the case in the newspaper and that she wasn’t comfortable sitting on the jury “as a human being.”
The first person who was questioned by both Devlin and Riccio said he had a cousin who worked as a police officer and was
excused after Devlin, unable to persuade Hall that the man should be excused for cause, exercised the first of eight so-called “peremptory” challenges available.
Though the jury selection process in Connecticut, known formally as voir dire, can be notoriously slow, the second prospective juror, a man in his 50s, was selected for the panel, prior to Devlin using another peremptory challenge on the third person questioned, a woman from Derby.
Questions from the lawyers in the case gave an indication of how both sides would try to frame the evidence and testimony.
For example, Riccio asked jurors whether they agreed that police officers have “difficult” jobs requiring them to make “split-second decisions.”
On the other hand, Supervisory Assistant State’s Attorney Andrew Slitt, the second chair to Devlin for the state, asked whether those making such decisions should be held responsible for their consequences.
Devlin also noted what is expected to be major public attention for the trial, looking to the sparsely filled gallery and predicting that would change when testimony begins next month.
“This courtroom will be packed,” he said, likely with supporters of police officers on one side and Soulemane’s family and their supporters on the other. “It’s going to be an intense atmosphere.”
North was the first Connecticut police officer to be charged in connection with a line-of-duty shooting in 17 years. He was placed on administrative leave and his police powers were suspended pending the outcome of his case.
After a two-year investigation, Devlin completed the report and brought the manslaughter charge, determining North’s use of force was not justified.
“Stated briefly, the investigation establishes that, at the time Trooper North fired his weapon, neither he nor any other person was in imminent danger of serious injury or death from a knife attack at the hands of Soulemane. Further, any belief that persons were in such danger was not reasonable,” Devlin wrote in the report.
The trooper rejected a plea offer last July that called for a guilty plea to second-degree manslaughter, which carries up to 10 years behind bars. If found guilty at trial, he would face up to 40 years in prison, five of which would be mandatory.
The last officer to face charges in a shooting was Hartford police Detective Robert Lawlor, who was acquitted of manslaughter and assault charges in 2009 in the killing of Jashon Bryant.