Chicago cop guilty of second degree murder of Laquan McDonald

Jason Van Dyke, the white Chicago cop accused of fatally shooting a black teenager 16 times in under 30 seconds back in 2014, was found guilty of second degree murder Friday.

Before the verdict was read, Judge Vincent Gaughan warned all in the courtroom to contain their emotions and said, "If you do act out, I will have you arrested."

Then he added, "Look into your heart and control your emotions. This will not be easy for anyone on either side."

The murder of Laquan McDonald was caught on police dash camera video and caused racial tension in the Windy City for years, polarizing Chicago while creating national attention over best ways to police minority communities.

The original charge for Van Dyke was first-degree murder, 16 counts of aggravated battery [for every round fired into the young victim], and one count of official misconduct in McDonald's death. The judge also advised jurors that they could consider second-degree murder.

The prosecution argued that Van Dyke, a veteran police officer, lied multiple times about the threat he claimed McDonald posed, saying the dash-cam video proves that he lied.

"You've seen it on video," prosecutor Jody Gleason said. "He made it up."

The defense painted McDonald as a dangerous teen who refused to drop the 3-inch retractable knife he was carrying when he was killed.

Daniel Herbert, the defense attorney for Van Dyke told jurors that McDonald was an "out-of-control individual who didn't care about anyone." He argued that his client was a "scared police officer who was fearful of his life and the life of others."

The defense called upon a police academy teacher who testified that Van Dyke was trained to fire rapidly and immediately reload his weapon.

A pharmacology expert was also called upon who claimed McDonald was "whacked on this PCP." James O'Donnell testified that McDonald was more vulnerable to hallucinations due to not taking his prescribed medication--an antipsychotic and a mood stabilizer, lending credence that McDonald was a danger.

But 16 times?

Van Dyke said he shot McDonald 16 times when the kid swung a knife at him, but grainy dash-cam video--released over a year later after a court order--showed McDonald holding a knife at the side of his body while he was about 15 feet away from Van Dyke. And the teen was walking away from Van Dyke as well as other cops on the scene who responded to a report that a youth was trying to break into vehicles.

After McDonald was shot, he fell to the pavement in less than 2 seconds. Van Dyke continued shooting for another 12 seconds, emptying his 16-shot semiautomatic handgun into the teen as he lay wounded.

Prosecutors rested their case on September 20 and called the 2014 "completely unnecessary." They argued that race had been a factor, but that's a load of crap because they cannot know what's in a person's heart. Maybe he was, but they cannot know that and it doesn't help solve anything. But they claimed that on the night McDonald was shot and killed, the only thing Van Dyke saw was a "black boy walking down the street" who had the "audacity to ignore the police."

Again, what does a claim like that help assuage racial tensions in Chicago?

But yes, Eury Patrick, the prosecution's expert on deadly use of force by the police, was correct when explaining that Van Dyke kept shooting "long beyond the point of being reasonable."

"They're not trained to just empty their gun," Patrick said. "It's not a knee-jerk reaction. They're trained to shoot until the risk is ended."

Jose Torres, a witness to the shooting told the jury that he heard more gunshots after McDonald fell than before he went down.

"I'm not going to use the word, but I said, 'Why the "f" are they still shooting him if he's on the ground?"

Van Dyke could easily spend the rest of his life in prison, and that would be called justice. After the verdict was read, Van Dyke's wife, Tiffany, cried quietly.

I am a big supporter of all first responders, and I always give cops the benefit of the doubt when there's no corroborating evidence. But a dash-cam video, a witness and 16 shots is too much evidence to give any benefit.


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