Officer convicted for murder of McDonald
CHICAGO » A white Chicago police officer was convicted of second-degree murder Friday in the 2014 shooting of a black teenager that was captured on shocking dashcam video that showed him crumpling to the ground in a hail of 16 bullets as he walked away from officers.
The video, some of the most graphic police footage to emerge in years, stoked outrage nationwide, and the high-stakes case gripped the nation’s third-largest city for nearly three years. The shooting also led to a federal government inquiry and calls to reform the Chicago Police Department.
Jason Van Dyke, 40, was the first Chicago officer to be charged with murder for an on-duty shooting in about 50 years. He was taken into custody moments after the verdict was read.
The second-degree verdict reflected the jury’s finding that Van Dyke believed his life was in danger but that the belief was unreasonable. The jury also had the option of first degree-murder, a charge that required a finding that the shooting was unnecessary and unreasonable.
Second-degree murder usually carries a sentence of less than 20 years in prison, especially for someone with no criminal history. Probation is also an option.
Van Dyke was also convicted of 16 counts of aggravated battery — one for each bullet — and acquitted of official misconduct.
The teen, Laquan McDonald, was carrying a knife when Van Dyke fired at him on a dimly lit street where he was surrounded by other officers.
One of Chicago’s leading civil rights attorneys said the conviction sends a message to minority communities that the police reforms that began after the video became public were not just for show.
Andrew Stroth said an acquittal would have sent the opposite message, dashing hopes for change.
“I think Chicago would have erupted,” he said.
Defense attorney Dan Herbert called Van Dyke “a sacrificial lamb” offered by political and community leaders “to save themselves.” He said it was a “sad day for law enforcement” because the verdict tells officers they cannot do their jobs.
“Police officers are going to become security guards,” he said.
The verdict was the latest chapter in a story that accelerated soon after a judge ordered the release of the video in November 2015. The case put the city at the center of the national conversation about police misconduct and excessive force.
The 12-person jury included just one African-American member, although blacks make up one-third of Chicago’s population. The jury also had seven whites, three Hispanics and one Asian-American.
Some jurors said they spent much of their deliberations discussing whether to convict on first-degree or second-degree murder, not an acquittal.
They said Van Dyke’s testimony did not help him. One woman said he “messed up” and should not have testified.
Jurors’ names were not made public during the trial, and they were not disclosed Friday during interviews with reporters at the courthouse.
One juror said Van Dyke needed to “contain the situation, not escalate it.” He said the jury settled on seconddegree murder because Van Dyke believed he was experiencing a real threat.
On the night of the shooting, officers were waiting for someone with a stun gun to use on the teenager when Van Dyke arrived, according to testimony and video. The video, played repeatedly at trial, showed him firing even after the 17-year-old lay motionless on the pavement.
Prosecutors and defense attorneys argued over what the footage actually proved.
During closing arguments, prosecutor Jody Gleason noted that Van Dyke told detectives that McDonald raised the knife, that Van Dyke backpedaled and that McDonald tried to get up off the ground after being shot.
“None of that happened,” she said. “You’ve seen it on video. He made it up.”
But Van Dyke and his attorneys maintained that the video didn’t tell the whole story.
His attorneys portrayed the officer as being scared by the young man who he knew had already punctured a tire of a squad car with the knife. Van Dyke testified that the teen was advancing on him and ignoring his shouted orders to drop the knife.
Van Dyke conceded that he stepped toward McDonald and not away from the teen, as Van Dyke had initially claimed. But the officer maintained the rest of his account, saying: “The video doesn’t show my perspective.”
The officer had been on the force for 13 years when the shooting happened. According to a database that includes reports from 2002 to 2008 and 2011 until 2015, he was the subject of at least 20 citizen complaints — eight of which alleged excessive force. Though he was never disciplined, a jury did award $350,000 to a man who filed an excessive-force lawsuit against him. Van Dyke testified that McDonald was the first person he ever shot.
To boost their contention that McDonald was dangerous, defense attorneys built a case against the teenager, who had been a ward of the state for most of his life and wound up in juvenile detention after an arrest for marijuana possession in January 2014.
Among those testifying were several current or former employees at the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center who said they had violent run-ins with McDonald. They also pointed to an autopsy that showed he had the hallucinogen PCP in his system.
Prosecutors stressed that Van Dyke was the only officer to ever fire a shot at McDonald.
They called multiple officers who were there that night as they sought to chip away at the “blue wall of silence” long associated with the city’s police force and other law enforcement agencies across the country.
Three officers, including Van Dyke’s partner that night, Joseph Walsh, have been charged with conspiring to cover up and lie about what happened to protect Van Dyke. They have all pleaded not guilty.