Suspended police chief cleared in Crawford shooting death [

thechadronnews.com ^ | June 22, 2009 | kerri Rempp

[smokingfrog]

Crawford’s suspended police chief Richard Thompson was acquitted of second degree assault charges after more than a day of testimony before North Platte Judge John Murphy.

Murphy announced his not guilty ruling Thursday afternoon. Thompson was indicted by a grand jury in November 2007 after he and Game and Parks Officer Dan Kling were involved in a shooting at the Frontier Bar in Crawford Oct. 3, 2007. Jesse Britton, 16, a suspect in a string of burglaries, was killed.

Thompson has maintained he fired his weapon in self-defense, while special prosecutor Jean Rhodes contended he was reckless in his decision to enter the bar, particularly the upper story, knowing Britton may have been armed and had made threats against Thompson and others. Rhodes tried to prove he should have used other means to resolve the situation and that Thompson did not act in self-defense.

Murphy made it known at several points in the trial that the decision to enter the building and to go upstairs was not relevant in the criminal proceedings. All that matters, he said at one point of the trial, is whether Britton had a gun and pointed it at Thompson and what the chief’s reaction to that was.

In his ruling, Murphy said the only issues he could consider is whether or not the state proved Thompson committed a crime by acting recklessly and that he was not acting in self-defense.

[smokingfrog]

Interesting story.

Thompson, Kling and the City of Crawford, however, still face a civil wrongful death suit in U.S. District Court. There, Murphy said in the ruling, issues that were not relevant in the criminal trial could hold more sway.

[JRandomFreeper]

So somewhere out in lonesome dirt-road country, the town cop goes upstairs in the bar.... after Miss Kitty has told him that the bad guy is up there and armed.... there's a draw-down and the town cop lives through it.

WTF, is this a 'Rifleman' rerun?

Why did this go to trial? What am I missing?

/johnny

[JRandomFreeper]

And the Kid's name was Jesse?

I must have missed the satire label...

/johnny

[smokingfrog]

Beats me. The fact that the perp is only 16 yrs. maybe. I’ll have to look up the original story and see how it all got started, I guess.

[JRandomFreeper]

I've been staying near where another 16 year old punk from NY used to shoot men in cold blood. That Kid's name was Billy.

But that was over 100 years ago, and Pat Garrett didn't go to trial over it.

/johnny

[Gator113]

Looks like a good shooting all the way around.

Charges should have never been filed.

I also don’t see it going far on a wrongful death suit, unless the county pays a settlement just to make it go away.

[Eagles6]

Why in the hell this ever got to a trial is unbelievable.

[smokingfrog]

Here's the background/timeline of events

more about Jesse Britton

Mom sounds like a piece of work.