North Carolina state prosecutors said Friday that they will not retry a white police officer who shot and killed unarmed Jonathan Ferrell. Prosecutors made the decision after talking with jurors following a mistrial, saying they would not be able to win a conviction, according to the New York Daily News.
A jury deadlocked 8-4 last week to acquit Charlotte-Mecklenburg Officer Randall Kerrick, 27, leading the judge to declare a mistrial. Kerrick was charged with voluntary manslaughter in the shooting death of Ferrell, 24, a former Florida A&M football player.
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Kerrick shot and killed Ferrell after responding to a breaking-and-entering call. As reported on The Root, on the night of Sept. 14, 2013, Ferrell, who was unarmed, was looking for help after a car accident when he knocked on the door of Sarah McCartney, who was home alone with her 1-year-old child.
Instead of offering assistance, McCartney slammed the door in Ferrell’s face and called 911 to report that someone was forcibly breaking into her home. A judge declared a mistral last week in light of a hung jury.
"In consideration of the jurors' comments, the evidence available to the state, and our background in criminal trials, it is our prosecutors' unanimous belief a retrial will not yield a different result," Senior Deputy Attorney General Robert Montgomery told the Mecklenburg County district attorney, according to the Daily News.
Read more at the New York Daily News.
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