Defendant Roy Oliver, right, and his defense attorney Bob Gill speak before the verdict came down at the Frank Crowley Courts Building in Dallas on Aug. 28, 2018.

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Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0</s>Former Police Officer Roy Oliver was found guilty of murder in the 2017 death of Jordan Edwards, an unarmed 15-year-old black teen whose death garnered attention nationwide attention as part of the debate on the use of force by law enforcement, particularly when the target is young black males.

Oliver was a former member of the Balch Springs Police Department who on the night of April 29, 2017, fired his rifle at the vehicle of teenagers, with Edwards’ brother Vidal Allen driving and Jordan in the passenger seat, that was driving away from him, killing Edwards. Oliver was arrested and charged with murder on May 5, 2017.

“This was a long-fought battle,” Daryl Washington, one of the lawyers for the Edwards family told the Associated Press.

One definitive reason for the return of a guilty verdict can be attributed to the use of body cameras by Oliver and his partner, Officer Tyler Gross, which is part of a nationwide debate regarding the item being worn by all law enforcement officers, sparked by the 2014 shooting of Mike Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. Brown, like Edwards, was a black, unarmed teenager, whose murder brought out massive protests and was a catalyst for the continued vigilance paid to similar cases.

The footage quickly debunked Oliver’s original story that the car was moving towards himself and he was acting in self-defense, and lead to him being fired then charged with the murder within the week. Gross eventually testified against his partner during the trial, saying he never felt that he was in danger that night.

This same footage was central to the trial, according to reports by the Texas Tribune allowing jurors to see the exact events of the night and after 13 hours of deliberation, convict a law enforcement officer in Texas of murder for the first time in 47 years.

The Texas Tribune also revealed that between 210 and 2015 of the 880 officers involved in shootings in Texas, only a quarter were disciplined by their departments, with ten firings and 14 suspensions. Marking Oliver’s murder conviction as a particularly rare occurrence.

Oliver was acquitted on two charges of aggravated assault and assault with a deadly weapon.

Oliver joined the Balch Springs Police Department in 2011. Associated Press Records reveal that Oliver was briefly suspended in 2013 for his conduct during an incident at the Dallas County District Attorney’s office, which required him to take anger management classes.

Roy Oliver’s Sentencing will be forthcoming. Edwards’ family, friends, and teachers will provide testimony to the judge before the sentencing period, according to reports from the Star-Telegram. Oliver could face up to life in prison.</s>Gasps echoed across the courtroom as a Dallas jury found former Balch Springs police officer Roy Oliver guilty of murder Tuesday afternoon in the shooting death of 15-year-old Jordan Edwards.

The jury found Oliver, 38, not guilty on two counts of aggravated assault for shooting into a car carrying five unarmed teens in April 2017. Edwards was the front seat passenger in the vehicle and was shot in the back of the head. He died at the scene.

After the verdict was read, Edwards' relatives sobbed, hugged prosecutors and exclaimed, "Thank you, Jesus!"

It took the jury 13 hours of deliberation, which started just before 12 p.m. Monday, to come to its verdict. Jurors met until about 8 p.m. Monday before they were sent to a hotel and sequestered for the night.

The verdict was read around 2:30 p.m. Tuesday.

"I'm happy, very happy," Odell Edwards, Jordan's father, said. "It's been a long time. Hard year. But I’m just really happy."

Family of Jordan Edwards Speaks Out After Verdict

The trial stretched for eight days, beginning August 16 and concluding Monday. During deliberations, the jury sent five notes to the judge, including two on Tuesday.

The first Tuesday note asked for a transcript of some of Oliver’s testimony, saying jurors were in dispute about whether Oliver said the sound of car glass breaking factored into his decision to shoot.

A second note Tuesday asked for a copy of a written statement Oliver provided after the shooting. The statement was not admitted in court and jurors were asked to continue deliberations without it.

The sentencing phase of the trial continued Tuesday afternoon.

"We don't ever want another parent, another father, to go through what this family had to deal with," said Edwards' family civil attorney Daryl K. Washington.

Oliver shot and killed Edwards on April 29, 2017, as Oliver and another officer, Tyler Gross, broke up a teenage house party. When the officers heard shots fired while they were breaking up the party, Gross zeroed in on a Chevy Impala that was leaving the house.

Oliver's defense said he used deadly force because he believed the driver of the Impala was trying to hit Gross. During the trial, Gross testified he did not believe his life was in danger.

"It doesn't matter that looking back on it, in hindsight, we'd all make a different decision now," said Oliver's attorney Bob Gill. "We have to look at it how Roy Oliver saw it at the time and what he saw was a significant threat to his partner."

Edwards was a student at Mesquite High School. After the verdict was read, Mesquite ISD said it extended its support to the Edwards family.

"Mesquite ISD is focused on meeting the emotional needs of our students and staff members as they cope with the many feelings stirred by the case surrounding Jordan Edwards' death. Our unwavering support and compassion extends to Jordan's family during this difficult time, and Jordan's memory will continue to hold special meaning for Mesquite High School and our entire community."

Shortly after the verdict was read, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott tweeted about the decision.

The jury, made up 10 women and two men, also had the option to find Oliver guilty of manslaughter if it could not come to a decision on the murder charge.

"This case is not just about Jordan. It's about Tamir Rice. It's about Walter Scott. It's about Alton Sterling," Washington said. "It's about every unarmed African American who has been killed and who has not gotten justice."

According to NBC 5's media partner The Dallas Morning News, the last time an on-duty police officer was convicted of murder in North Texas was in 1973.

In that case, Dallas police officer Darrell L. Cain shot and killed 12-year-old Santos Rodriguez, Russian roulette-style, during an interrogation over a vending machine burglary.

It's extremely rare for police officers to be tried and convicted of murder for shootings that occurred while they were on duty. Not including Oliver, only five non-federal police officers had been convicted of murder -- and four of those were overturned -- since 2005, according to data compiled by criminologist and Bowling Green State University professor Phil Stinson.

Ahead of the trial, experts noted that securing convictions against officers were challenging, in part because criminal culpability in on-duty shootings is subjective and jurors are more inclined to believe police testimony.</s>Ex-police officer, Roy Oliver, has been found guilty of murder, in the shooting death of 15-year-old, Jordan Edwards.

Oliver shot into a car of teenagers as they drove away from a house party– a police visit which all started with a 911 call about drunk underage kids. Jordan Edwards, who was sitting in the car, got shot in the head.

Roy Oliver claimed he shot Edwards to protect his fellow police officer, Tyler Gross but surveillance footage showed the car not moving in Gross’s direction. Gross also testified at trial that he never feared for his life.

Roy Oliver was armed with an AR-1semi-automatic rifle; Jordan Edwards, a freshman honor student, was unarmed.</s>The jury of the Roy Oliver case has come to a decision.

The former Balch Springs police officer has been found guilty of the murder of 15-year-old Jordan Edwards.

He was accused of shooting and killing the unarmed teen last April.

Initially, Oliver said he feared for his life when he shot at the car Edwards and his brother were in while leaving a party.

He was fired when body cam video didn’t back up his story.</s>Roy Oliver, the Texas officer who fired five times into a car holding 15-year-old Jordan Edwards after a party in suburban Dallas was found guilty of murder on Wednesday.

Jurors deliberated for 12 hours over two days before rendering their verdict.

Oliver’s defense attorney argued that the shooting was justified because they the car Edwards was in was going to run over Oliver’s partner, Tyler Gross. Gross and Oliver were partners on the Balch Springs police force until Oliver was fired after the killing of Edwards.

Per ThinkProgress, Oliver becomes the 33rd officer anywhere in the country to be convicted of an on-duty homicide since the start of 2005, according to a database kept by Bowling Green professor and ex-cop Phil Stinson.

A crucial moment for the jury came with Gross testified against Oliver, stating that he did not fear for his life.

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Officer Found Guilty Of Murder In Shooting Death Of Jordan Edwards was originally published on theboxhouston.com

Also On The Urban Daily:</s>A Texas jury has found a white former police officer who shot and killed an unarmed black teenager last year guilty of murder.

Roy Oliver shot into a car full of teenagers as they were leaving a party in the Dallas suburb of Balch Springs in April 2017.

Fifteen-year-old Jordan Edwards, who was sitting in the passenger seat, was struck and killed.

"It's been a hard year ... I'm just really happy," Edwards's father, Odell, told reporters at the courthouse after the verdict on Tuesday.

At the time of the shooting, Oliver claimed the vehicle was trying to run over his partner, but several witness accounts and body-cam footage showed the car was moving away from the officer.

Oliver was fired from the Balch Springs police force in May 2017 after police admitted the video of the shooting contradicted Oliver's initial statement.

Local reporters, who were present in the courtroom on Tuesday as the verdict was read, reported that there were hugs, claps and cheers from the family of Edwards.

Oliver faces between five and 99 years in prison for the murder. His sentencing hearing began immediately after the trial. The former police officer was acquitted of manslaughter and aggravated assault.

'Not just about Jordan'

Daryl Washington, Edwards's lawyer, said the verdict is not just about justice for the young teenager's family but for the families of all unarmed black people killed by police.

"This case is not just about Jordan," Washington told reporters. "It's about Tamir Rice, it's about Walter Scott, it's about Alton Sterling, it's about every unarmed African American who has been killed and who has not got justice."

According to Washington Post Fatal Force database, more than 980 people were killed by police in 2017.

The Guardian identified more than 1,090 police killings the previous year.

Nearly a quarter of those killed by police in 2016 were African Americans, although the group accounted for roughly 12 percent of the total US population.

According to watchdog group The Sentencing Project, African American men are six times more likely to be arrested than white men.

These disparities, particularly the killing of African Americans by police, has prompted the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement, a popular civil rights movement aimed at ending police violence and dismantling structural racism.

Online, many called Tuesday's verdict a "small", but "significant" step for justice for unarmed people killed by police.

According to Phil Stinson, a criminologist at Bowling Green State University, only 91 police officers in the US have been charged with murder or manslaughter resulting from an on-duty shooting since 2005. Less than 40 have been convicted of a crime.

"This is a big deal," tweeted Sherrilyn Ifill, the president and director-counsel of the Legal Defense Fund of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

Twitter user, Ben Frank, wrote: "Finally, a cop was found guilty of murdering a black man. Hopefully this will be the new norm and [teach] these cops they just can't murder us and get away with it."

Angie Thomas, author of the book The Hate You Give, and others pointed out that the verdict came on the same day as the anniversary murder of Emmet Till, a 14-year-old African American who was kidnapped and brutally killed in 1955 in Mississippi. Although two white men confessed to the murder after they were acquitted by an all-white jury, experts say details around the murder remain unclear. The US Department of Justice recently announced it was reviving its investigation into the case, which became a focal point of the civil rights movement in the US.

"It's not lost on me that Jordan Edwards received justice on the anniversary of Emmett Till's murder," Thomas tweeted. "Trying to process this."</s>Roy Oliver, the former Balch Springs, Texas, police officer who fatally shot 15-year-old honor roll student Jordan Edwards, was found guilty of murder Tuesday.

Oliver was also found not guilty of two counts of aggravated assault for firing shots into a vehicle of five teenagers.

On April 29, 2017, Edwards was leaving a party with his older brother and three other friends when they heard gunshots. Officers at the scene said they were responding to a call from “drunk teens.” The Balch Springs police chief noted Oliver — who was with a second officer, Tyler Gross, shot at the teens as the car drove away. In initial reports, the police department said the car was driving in reverse toward the officers, but they later walked back those statements.

In testimony, Oliver said he feared Gross was in danger, so he fired shots at the car. However, Gross testified that he never felt like he was in danger or that he needed to use lethal force, the Associated Press reported.

Oliver’s attorney, Bob Gill, believes the jury should base its decision on what Oliver knew at the time. “It doesn’t matter that looking back on it, in hindsight, we’d all make a different decision now,” Gill told the jury Monday. “We have to look at it how Roy Oliver saw it at the time and what he saw was a significant threat to his partner.”

Prosecutor Mike Snipes argued there were nine seconds between Oliver obtaining his weapon and firing the first shot. He paused for nine seconds during his statement to show the court room just how long Snipes had to assess the situation.

“That’s who this case is about. That kid right there,” Snipes said while pointing to a photo of Edwards. “It’s not a fairy tale. He really was that great. He really did have a 3.5 GPA, he really did want to go to Alabama to play football for them, he really did work out every day, he really did have a million friends, he really did have a nickname ‘Smiley.’ He was the real deal.”</s>A jury has just found Roy Oliver guilty of murder. He was the Balch Springs cop who shot an unarmed 15-year-old named Jordan Edwards. The DMN has the details, and the paper is streaming video from the Dallas courtroom where the punishment phase of the trial is now underway.
Former Texas police officer Roy Oliver is found guilty in the murder of 15-year old Mesquite High School freshman Jordan Edwards.