Posted on 05/23/2015 7:21:50 AM PDT by Whenifhow
Officer Michael Brelo is charged with two counts of voluntary manslaughter for the deaths of Timothy Russell, 43, and Malissa Williams, 30.
Closing arguments in the month-long trial were presented on May 5 and Judge O’Donnell was left to deliberate. If convicted, Brelo, 31, faces a maximum sentence of 22 years in prison.
On Nov. 29, 2012, Cleveland Police Officer Vasile Nan thought he heard a gunshot while he was outside of his cruiser on St. Clair Avenue near the Cuyahoga County Justice Center, and pursued a blue car. The resulting police chase lasted 22 minutes, and involved more than 60 police cars and more than a hundred officers. It stretched through downtown Cleveland, into the Tremont neighborhood and at high speeds on Interstate 90 before ending at Heritage Middle School in East Cleveland.
In the school parking lot, 13 Cleveland officers fired a total of 137 shots at Russell’s 1979 Chevrolet Malibu. Investigators from the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation said 49 of those shots came from Officer Brelo’s Glock 17. His final 15 shots were fired from the hood of the suspect’s car.
According to the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner’s Office, Russell suffered 23 gunshot wounds and his passenger, Williams, was shot 24 times.
A team of Cuyahoga County prosecutors called 45 witnesses, including 20 police officers, multiple BCI agents and a number of experts. They presented shell casings, foot prints and hundreds of photos as evidence.
“Timothy Russell made some bad decisions that night, but it should not have been a death sentence for him,” assistant prosecutor Sherrie Royster said.
snip
Five other Cleveland officers are charged with dereliction of duty in the case. Those officers were called to the stand during the Brelo trial, but all took the Fifth Amendment and refused to testify.
(Excerpt) Read more at fox8.com ...
http://fox8.com/live-stream-b/
Live stream
http://fox8.com/live-stream-b/
Also note the other cases in Cleveland that are brewing:
Cleveland’s preparations for Brelo verdict include motorcycle clubs, sports coaches
http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2015/05/clevelands_riot_prevention_pla.html
Protesters have demonstrated off-and-on throughout the trial, and since November when a Cleveland police officer shot and killed 12-year-old Tamir Rice and when 37-year-old Tanisha Anderson, who suffered from a mental illness, died in police custody.
And note the tone in this article that protesters are saying they want peace, but not CALM.
Brelo verdict protesters block downtown Cleveland street
“A killer cop Brelo has got to go to jail,” said Community Activist Art McKoy. “We do not trust Judge O’Donnell.”
snip
We are promoting peace and no violence and destruction,” said McKoy. “But we are not promoting calm.”
McKoy says if violence erupts in Cleveland it will be the City’s fault.
That judge is long-winded!
AT the beginning he told how many pages, but he is reading 10 pages of his verdict.
There was no jury since Brelo waived his right to a jury trial.
I’m laughing. The stream on my tablet isn’t working properly. In spots the judge’s lips are moving, but no sound is coming out. It’s like a badly dubbed foreign film.
They gonna change the name of the city to mofreeboro? Are the agi-taters loading up the busses yet? Has george “I’ll help you load the box cars” soros started writing expense checks yet?
CNN is running it right now.
I had to turn it off, but it sounded like the judge found the use of deadly force to be justifiable???
Thanks.
CNN is there that’ll guarantee a riot!
It’s going to be a long, hot summer.
Not guilty for the shooting, justified.
Not guilty on counts 1 and 2. Not guilty on lesser charges of felonious assault as well.
A normal reasonable judge... Not guilty
Thanks.
Let the riots begin!
Sigh.
Ultimately - he is NOT guilty (of ALL charges) because the prosecution did not prove beyond a reasonable doubt.
Had to step away for a bit, but thought the judge was giving judgement on different officers as well and whether or not certain shots fired (by different officers) were the deadly shots.
Thought he said that Brelo was not acting professionally (hate to give a ruling term here) when he stood on the hood of the car and shot more bullets.
News outlets will have a story soon after he finishes reading the 10 pages.
Other local news outlets:
http://www.wkyc.com/local/
Is this riot worthy?
Thank you. He was exonerated.
Not if they keep the outside agitators out.
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