The jury in the trial of Ray Tensing, a University of Cincinnati police officer who shot and killed Sam DuBose, an unarmed black man, in 2015 deadlocked on Friday morning.
It marked the second mistrial for Tensing, after a jury in November also failed to come to a verdict. Tensing shot DuBose in the head in July of 2015 after pulling over the 43-year-old for a missing front license plate. The defense argued that Tensing feared for his life as DuBose tried to drive away while the officer’s arm was “trapped” inside the vehicle, while prosecutors pointed to footage that showed Tensing’s gun was already out by the time the vehicle began to move. The nine white and three black jurors could not come to a unanimous decision after five days of deliberation.
The news caps off a week of lenient rulings for officers involved in police shootings. Just one week ago, Jeronimo Yanez, the Minnesota police officer who shot and killed Philando Castile in front of his girlfriend and daughter at a traffic stop in 2016, was acquitted of all charges, and two days ago jurors cleared Milwaukee officer Dominique Heaggan-Brown for the death of Sylville K. Smith.
