Videos, DNA evidence may be key in St. Louis officer's trial
Source: Associated Press
Updated 4:25 pm, Monday, July 31, 2017
ST. LOUIS (AP) — A former St. Louis police officer's murder trial that begins this week is expected to hinge on videos and DNA evidence that have raised questions about the officer's actions after the shooting and the weapon recovered by police.
Jason Stockley, who's white, is charged with first-degree murder and armed criminal action in the 2011 shooting death of Anthony Lamar Smith, a black 24-year-old. Charges were filed last year after then-Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce cited unspecified new evidence. The trial, the latest of several across the U.S. involving the fatal police shootings of black men, begins Tuesday and is expected to last two weeks.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that Smith was shot following a police chase during a drug investigation. Circuit Judge Timothy Wilson has ordered lawyers and witnesses not to discuss the case, but evidence will certainly include video , both from police and from a bystander.
A key issue is a .38-caliber Taurus revolver police said was found in Smith's car. Police reports say Stockley's DNA — but not Smith's — was on the gun. Stockley told investigators he unloaded the revolver as a safety precaution after the shooting.
Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/crime/article/St-Louis-cop-charged-in-2011-death-faces-trial-11720328.php
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