CINCINNATI — The encounters with the police officers turned deadly within seconds. Each time, a black man was fatally shot, and each time, it was captured on video. And three times in the span of a week, the officers’ trials have ended without a conviction.

On Friday, it was jurors here who were hopelessly deadlocked in the retrial of Raymond M. Tensing, the former University of Cincinnati police officer who faced charges of murder and voluntary manslaughter for fatally shooting Samuel DuBose, an unarmed motorist, in 2015. Mr. Tensing’s first trial, held last fall, also ended with a hung jury.

“We are almost evenly split regarding our final votes,” read the note passed from the jury to Judge Leslie Ghiz, who declared a mistrial as rain lashed against the windows of her chilly downtown courtroom. Mr. Tensing dropped his head into his hand and squeezed his eyes, while one man seated with Mr. DuBose’s family hung his head and looked out at the rain.

As she walked out of the courtroom, Terina DuBose-Allen, a sister of Mr. DuBose’s, spoke quietly: “I think it’s horrible.”</s>An Ohio judge declared a mistrial for the second time in the case against Ray Tensing, a former University of Cincinnati police officer charged with the 2015 shooting of an unarmed black driver during a traffic stop.

After five days of deliberations, the jury said Friday afternoon it was deadlocked and Hamilton County Judge Leslie Ghiz declared a mistrial in the murder and voluntary manslaughter trial.

The case spurred from a deadly encounter, caught on police cameras, between Tensing and 43-year-old motorist Samuel DuBose.

This is the second time Tensing has been brought before a jury on criminal charges. The first round also ended in a mistrial last year with a jury unable to come to a unanimous verdict after deliberating for more than 20 hours.

DuBose's family said in a statement released shortly after the mistrial that they were "outraged" that a second jury failed to convict Tensing "for the murder of our beloved Sam DuBose."

"We demand another retrial. We call on the community to join us in peaceful protest of this unjust result," the family said.

DuBose, a 43-year-old father of 13, was driving near the University of Cincinnati in July 2015 when he was pulled over by Tensing for missing a front license plate, police said.

Tensing asked DuBose for his driver's license and registration, which he failed to provide. The officer then ordered him to step out of his car and tried to open the door, but DuBose refused. The car began to pull away.

With one hand still inside the car, Tensing yelled, "Stop! Stop!" before firing his gun at DuBose, striking him in the head. The car then began traveling out of control before coming to a stop.

The men had a conversation for about one minute and 50 seconds before it escalated with Tensing and DuBose in a struggle. Within just a few seconds, Tensing fired his gun.

Two other officers were on scene, and their body cameras captured other angles of the shooting's aftermath.

Prosecutors quickly announced murder and voluntary manslaughter charges against Tensing, and he became the first officer in Cincinnati to face murder charges for killing someone while on duty.

Tensing told investigators that he feared for his life.

Jurors in the second trial consisted of nine white jurors and three black jurors.

During closing arguments, prosecutors said the case was a "slam-dunk" on manslaughter charges, according to NBC Cincinnati WLWT5.

Meanwhile, defense attorneys said Tensing feared for his life and that questing on the officer’s actions is "20/20 hindsight."

The case marks the third time in just one week that an officer who used deadly force against a civilian walked free. Minnesota officer Jeronimo Yanaz was acquitted on June 16 for fatally shooting Philando Castile, also during what was supposed to be a routine traffic stop. Milwaukee officer Dominique Heaggan-Brown was also found not guilty Wednesday in the death of a 23-year-old Sylville K. Smith.</s>A mistrial was declared on Friday for the second time in the murder trial of a white University of Cincinnati police officer, after the jury said it was hopelessly deadlocked on charges in the fatal traffic stop shooting of an unarmed black motorist.

The Hamilton County jury had deliberated some 30 hours over five days after getting the case on Monday. The jurors had told Judge Leslie Ghiz earlier Friday that they were unable to reach a verdict in the trial of Officer Ray Tensing, but Ghiz sent them back to try again.

The jury on Friday afternoon told the judge they were almost evenly split in their votes and did not anticipate coming to a decision. Ghiz then declared a mistrial.

The first trial against the 27-year-old Tensing also ended in a mistrial after the jury deliberated 25 hours over four days in November without reaching a verdict. It was not immediately clear if prosecutors intend to try the case for a third time.

Tensing shot 43-year-old Sam DuBose in the head after pulling him over for a missing front license plate on 19 July 2015.

As in his first trial, Tensing testified in his own defense and said he feared he could be dragged or run over as DuBose tried to drive away. He was in tears at some points.

“I meant to stop the threat,” he told jurors last week. “I didn’t shoot to kill him. I didn’t shoot to wound him. I shot to stop his actions.”

Prosecutors said repeatedly the evidence contradicted Tensing’s story. An expert hired by prosecutors said his frame-by-frame analysis of the former officer’s body camera video showed the officer was not being dragged by the car.

The University of Cincinnati fired Tensing last year after his indictment. It restructured its public safety department and made other policing reforms. The university reached a $5.3m settlement with DuBose’s family, including free undergraduate tuition for DuBose’s 13 children.

The case is among several across the country in recent years that have raised attention to how police deal with black people. It’s also among cases that show the difficulties prosecutors face in gaining convictions against police for on-duty shootings.

A jury last week acquitted a Minnesota officer who fatally shot Philando Castile during a traffic stop. And jurors Wednesday acquitted a black police officer of first-degree reckless homicide in the death of a black Milwaukee man who threw away the gun he was carrying during a brief foot chase after a traffic stop.

Jurors in the Tensing case began deliberations Monday afternoon. They submitted a question Tuesday about the location of a piece of evidence. At the end of the day, they came into the courtroom where the judge praised their work and encouraged them to “hang in there”.

On Friday morning, after jurors said they were deadlocked on both murder and manslaughter charges, Ghiz sent them back to the deliberating room where, she said, “Hopefully, you’re able to resolve your deadlock.”

Ghiz gave the jury of nine white people and three black people formal instructions to re-examine their views and listen to one another’s opinions.

“It is your duty to decide the case if you can conscientiously do so,” she said.

She declared a mistrial after they came back deadlocked for the second time.

The jury in Tensing’s first trial consisted of 10 white people and two black people.

Ghiz continues to restrict media coverage. News organizations including the Associated Press have a pending lawsuit against her restrictions on the use of cellphones and other electronic devices.

To convict Tensing of murder, jurors had to find he purposely killed DuBose. The charge carries a possible sentence of 15 years to life in prison.

The voluntary manslaughter charge means killing during sudden passion or a fit of rage. That carries a possible sentence of three to 11 years.</s>| A judge in Cincinnati declared a second mistrial in the case of Ray Tensing, a white police officer who shot and killed an unarmed black driver at a traffic stop. The jury was deadlocked after five days of deliberations. Michelle Miller has more.</s>The family of an unarmed slain Black motorist in Ohio continues to wait for a verdict, as the jury returned on Thursday morning for a fourth day of deliberations in the murder retrial of ex-University of Cincinnati Officer Ray Tensing, reports WLWT Cincinnati.

Tensing, who is White, is accused of murdering Samuel DuBose during a July 2015 traffic stop.

Tensing’s first trial ended in a hung jury, after the jurors deadlocked for 16 hours in November. The jury has been mulling over facts for more than 18.5 hours in the murder and voluntary manslaughter retrial.

The former cop pulled DuBose over for a missing front license plate on July 19, 2015, reports NPR. The encounter ended with the ex-cop firing his weapon into the Black motorist’s car. Tensing was indicted for murder less than two weeks following the fatal shooting, and DuBose’s family filed a wrongful death lawsuit.

During closing arguments on Monday, prosecutor Seth Tieger urged jurors to pay close attention to footage from Tensing’s body cam.

“Ray Tensing lied to Cincinnati police that day on the 21st and he lied to you when he testified in order to save himself,” said Tieger, adding that the ex-cop showed no remorse for shooting DuBose, WLWT reported.

Tieger also said that DuBose was trapped in his car and was an “easy target” when “his car became his coffin.”

Defense attorney Stew Mathews pushed jurors to sympathize with Tensing: “If you do all that, you are going to find Ray Tensing’s actions were justified.”

Meanwhile, protesters are meeting outside the courthouse to call for Tensing’s conviction.

Trial Date Set For Ray Tensing In Samuel DuBose Killing, University Of Cincinnati Police Resume Patrolling

No Charges For Officers Who Corroborated Ray Tensing Account Of Samuel DuBose Shooting</s>An Ohio judge declared a mistrial Friday in the retrial of a former University of Cincinnati police officer who fatally shot Samuel DuBose in July 2015 during a traffic stop after his vehicle was flagged for a missing license plate.

The jury told Judge Leslie Ghiz earlier Friday that it couldn’t reach a verdict. Ghiz asked them to try again. Four hours later, the jury said it was still deadlocked; in all, jurors deliberated more than 31 hours this week.

The hung jury comes after two trials in eight months for Ray Tensing, the officer accused of murdering DuBose, a 43-year-old unarmed black man. Ex-officer Tensing, who is white, had faced charges of murder and voluntary manslaughter in the trial that ended this week.

The first case, in 2016, was also declared a mistrial after the jury announced they were deadlocked after 25 hours of deliberation. The second trial’s jury announced it was deadlocked on the fifth day of deliberation, surpassing the amount of time the jury took in the first trial to determine an outcome in the case, The Cincinnati Enquirer reported.

Tensing, 27, had previously insisted that he feared for his life when DuBose started driving away from the traffic stop. Tensing told the court his arm was still inside the car, and DuBose “dragged” him with his car. Tensing repeated that account for other officers who eventually arrive at the scene.

When the former officer took the stand last week, he testified that he thought about the fatal encounter “every moment for the last two years,” adding, teary-eyed, that he replayed the moment “millions of times” in his head, WVXU reported.

But prosecutors said video evidence showed the officer was not dragged.

Why do so few trials of police officers charged in on-duty shootings end in convictions? Most recently, the officers who shot and killed Philando Castile and Sylville Smith were acquitted by juries who saw video of the fatal encounters. John Yang discusses issues of race and deadly force with David Klinger of the University of Missouri-St. Louis and Brittany Packnett, co-founder of Campaign Zero.

Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters has previously said the full 28-minute bodycam footage presented a different scenario. On the recording, Tensing is heard repeatedly asking DuBose for his license. DuBose said he had one, but it wasn’t on him.

Then, things move quickly: There’s an exchange about DuBose taking off his seatbelt for the officer. Tensing opens the driver’s door a few inches, but DuBose pulls it back closed. DuBose reaches for the key in the ignition and starts his car. Tensing then reaches into the car with his left hand and yells “Stop!” twice before pulling out his gun and shooting a single shot in the DuBose’s head. The car moves forward about 100 yards as Tensing falls back.

“It is our belief that he was not dragged. If you slow down this tape you see what happens, it is a very short period of time from when the car starts rolling to when a gun is out and he’s shot in the head,” Deters told reporters last year. Deters maintained the same point for jurors in the retrial.

DuBose’s family members released a statement after a mistrial was declared, commending prosecutors for their “strong presentation in this case,” but adding that they were “outraged that a second jury has now failed to convict Ray Tensing for the murder of our beloved Sam DuBose.”

The family demanded another retrial and called on the community to join them in a peaceful protest “of this unjust result.” It’s unclear whether prosecutors would try the case again, the Associated Press reports.

WATCH: Why do so few deadly police shootings end in police convictions?</s>An Ohio judge declared a mistrial Friday in the case against former University of Cincinnati police Officer Ray Tensing, who fatally shot Samuel DuBose during a traffic stop in July 2015.

DuBose’s killing was one in a series of high-profile, officer-involved shootings that sparked nationwide protests over the use of force by police. Tensing, who is white, was fired from his job and arrested after the shooting.

Shortly after 2 p.m. Friday, Judge Leslie Ghiz declared a second mistrial in the case after receiving a note from the jury.

“We are almost evenly split regarding our votes towards a final verdict,” the note read.

“We have given this extensive deliberation with opportunity for both sides to express their positions. We cannot proceed coming to a unanimous decision.”

Tensing stared straight ahead with no expression before putting his head down in his hand as the judge declared a mistrial.

Earlier Friday, Ghiz ordered the deadlocked jury to resume deliberations after more than 27 hours in the jury room.

In a note, jurors wrote, “We are unable to come to a unanimous decision on either count after thorough deliberation. How should we proceed?”

Ghiz told the jurors, “Ladies and gentlemen, I’m going to send you back for a little while longer,” before then reading a charge encouraging them to reconsider their positions and listen to one another as they deliberated.

In November, Tensing’s first trial also ended in a mistrial after more than 25 hours of deliberations.

Tensing was charged with murder and voluntary manslaughter. He testified he shot DuBose because he feared for his life after his left arm became trapped inside DuBose’s moving car on July 19, 2015.

Tensing was tried at a time of increasingly strained relations between law enforcement officers and the communities they serve.

He was the third US law enforcement officer to be tried for shooting a black man in the last week. None was convicted.

On Wednesday, Dominique Heaggan-Brown, the former Milwaukee police officer who fatally shot Sylville Smith during an August foot chase, was found not guilty of first-degree reckless homicide.

A week ago, Minnesota police Officer Jeronimo Yanez was acquitted of one count of second-degree manslaughter and two counts of intentional discharge of a firearm that endangers safety in the fatal shooting of Philando Castile during a traffic stop last year. In May, Tulsa police Officer Betty Shelby was acquitted in the shooting death of Terence Crutcher, an unarmed black man.

‘Threat to his life and well-being’

In closing arguments, Tensing’s attorney, Stew Mathews, told the jury that Dubose “elected to start that car, put it into gear and take off with Ray Tensing’s arm trapped inside it. I submit to you that is a threat to his life and to his well-being.”

Prosecutors broke down body camera video frame-by-frame to rebut Tensing’s assertion that he was being dragged down the street.

Hamilton County Assistant Prosecutor Seth Tieger told the jury that Tensing made a tactical error when he reached his left arm inside DuBose’s car and then escalated the problem by firing his weapon.

“Ray Tensing had a choice to make that evening,” Tieger said. “Do I disengage and let Sam DuBose drive away or do I kill him?”

Asserting the video did not definitively prove the prosecution’s arguments about whether Tensing was dragged, Mathews reminded the jury of “Sully,” the 2009 movie about airline pilot Chesley Sullenberger who became a hero by making an emergency landing on the Hudson River with no loss of life.

Using computer simulations, federal investigators argued that Sullenberger made a bad decision and could have reached nearby airports to land.

“They were about to hang him out to dry,” Mathews said, but authorities eventually came down on the pilot’s side because “human factors” were considered.

Tensing pulled DuBose over because his car didn’t have a front tag and because his back tag was registered to a driver with a suspended license, DuBose’s girlfriend, Mathews said.

Mathews said DuBose had motive to drive away from the traffic stop because he lacked a license and carried a felony amount of marijuana in the vehicle.

Tieger agreed with defense attorneys that DuBose did not comply with Tensing’s commands but said that wasn’t justification to shoot.

“Noncompliance does not equal not guilty,” he said.

Tensing was fired from his job and arrested after the shooting. He was released from custody after posting 10% of his $1 million bond.

The University of Cincinnati agreed in January 2016 to pay $4.85 million to the family of DuBose. The school also agreed to set up a memorial to DuBose on campus, invite the family to take part in meetings on police reform, issue a formal apology and provide free undergraduate education to DuBose’s 12 children.</s>The jury deadlocked on Friday in the retrial of Ray Tensing, the former University of Cincinnati police officer who fatally shot Samuel DuBose, The New York Times reports.

After about 30 hours of deliberation, the jurors could not reach a verdict. This is Tensing’s second mistrial for DuBose’s death.

Earlier this week, a jury acquitted former Milwaukee Police Officer Dominique Heaggan-Brown in the shooting death of Sylville Smith. That acquittal came on the heels of a St. Paul, Minnesota jury clearing an officer of wrongdoing in the fatal shooting of another Black man, Philando Castile.

The family of an unarmed slain Black motorist in Ohio continues to wait for a verdict, as the jury returned on Thursday morning for a fourth day of deliberations in the murder retrial of ex-University of Cincinnati Officer Ray Tensing, reports WLWT Cincinnati.

Tensing, who is White, is accused of murdering Samuel DuBose during a July 2015 traffic stop.

after the jurors deadlocked for 16 hours in November. The jury has been mulling over facts for more than 18.5 hours in the murder and voluntary manslaughter retrial.The former cop pulled DuBose over for a missing front license plate on July 19, 2015, reports NPR . The encounter ended with the ex-cop firing his weapon into the Black motorist’s car. Tensing was indicted for murder less than two weeks following the fatal shooting, and DuBose’s family filed a wrongful death lawsuit During closing arguments on Monday, prosecutor Seth Tieger urged jurors to pay close attention to footage from Tensing’s body cam. “Ray Tensing lied to Cincinnati police that day on the 21st and he lied to you when he testified in order to save himself,” said Tieger, adding that the ex-cop showed no remorse for shooting DuBose, WLWT reported. Tieger also said that DuBose was trapped in his car and was an “easy target” when “his car became his coffin.” Defense attorney Stew Mathews pushed jurors to sympathize with Tensing: “If you do all that, you are going to find Ray Tensing’s actions were justified.” Meanwhile, protesters are meeting outside the courthouse to call for Tensing’s conviction.</s>CINCINNATI — For a second time, a jury has been unable to agree on whether Ray Tensing was justified when he fatally shot Sam DuBose during a traffic stop.

Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Leslie Ghiz on Friday shortly after 2 p.m. declared a mistrial, after the jury of nine women and three men said they could not agree on verdicts for either murder or voluntary manslaughter.

A polite and subtle wave to the gathered media and a one-sentence statement is all Audrey DuBose provided after she witnessed a judge again declaring a mistrial in the case of her son's death.

"God's will is sufficient," Audrey DuBose said as she left the Hamilton County Courthouse Friday afternoon.

In the driving rain Friday afternoon, protesters and demonstrators held signs and chanted.

"This verdict is devastating for Cincinnati," Brian Taylor of Black Lives Matter: Cincinnati said in a rainstorm outside the courthouse. "It proves that once again it is completely legal in the United States of America in 2017 to kill black people if you are a cop."

Tensing’s first trial last year also ended with the jury deadlocked. Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters must now decide whether to seek a third trial.

Jurors deliberated more than 30 hours over five days. They asked three questions during that time, court officials said.

The last question came Friday morning, when the jury told Ghiz they were unable to reach a unanimous decision on either count. “How should we proceed?” they asked.

Ghiz called them into the courtroom and ordered them to continue deliberating, saying, “Hopefully you’re able to resolve your deadlock.”

Jurors couldn’t resolve that deadlock in a case involving the 2015 fatal shooting of DuBose, an unarmed African-American man who tried to drive away from a traffic stop. Tensing, then a 25-year-old University of Cincinnati police officer, said he feared for his life after his arm became trapped inside DuBose’s car.

Opening statements in the retrial were June 8. The seven days of testimony featured video and use-of-force experts for both sides who gave competing views of the incident, much of which was captured on Tensing’s body camera.

There was no agreement among the experts, for example, about whether DuBose pinned Tensing’s arm against the steering wheel. Tensing told investigators two days afterward that his arm was “caught” or “tangled” in the steering wheel. On the stand last week, he said he “misperceived” that his arm was caught.

Also, in an extremely unusual moment, a lead investigator who testified for the prosecution offered an opinion that Tensing may have been justified.</s>Another mistrial was declared today for a former Ohio police officer who went on trial twice in connection with a deadly traffic stop shooting two years ago.

Former University of Cincinnati police officer Ray Tensing, who is white, fatally shot 43-year-old Sam DuBose, an unarmed black man, after Tensing pulled DuBose's car over near the University of Cincinnati in July 2015. Tensing's body camera video shows him shooting DuBose.

Tensing, now 27, lost his job after the shooting and was charged with murder and voluntary manslaughter. A mistrial was declared at his first trial in 2016.

According to The Associated Press, Tensing and his defense attorney, Stewart Mathews, have argued that, at the traffic stop, DuBose stepped on the accelerator while Tensing's arm was trapped. The defense says Tensing, who pleaded not guilty, was scared DuBose would use his car to kill him, so Tensing acted reasonably to try to stop the threat, The AP said.

Prosecutors, meanwhile, claimed that the video shows that DuBose's car wasn't moving until about one second before Tensing fired his gun, therefore "Tensing wasn't in reasonable fear of his life when he made the decision to shoot DuBose," the AP reported.

This story is developing. Please check back for more updates.

The Associated Press contributed to this report
For the second time, a mistrial is declared in the case against officer Ray Tensing for the fatal shooting of Samuel DuBose during a traffic stop.