“But what is this artificial barrier you have created before he retired and after he retired? Why do you see a boundary there? It’s the same man doing exactly the same job he has always done, yet there is something about retirement that suddenly makes him incompetent and/or illegitimate?”
Yeah, it’s called color of law. He is no longer a police officer; thus he cannot act under color of law anymore.
Did the police department provide for his defense? No, because he was not on the force, and he was not acting under color of law.
Yeah, I don't buy that assertion. He was under color of law as a civilian doing what he did, and he was doubly so as a retired cop.
I've read excellent legal analysis of this case over at "Legal Insurrection" and it is clear to me the judge erred in both his interpretation of the law, and in his instructions to the jury.
Their conviction was a clear miscarriage of justice to anyone not blinded by the racial aspects of this case and the baying of the mob for their blood.