Charlotte officer’s voluntary manslaughter trial starts

Kerrick, a former CMPD officer is on trial for voluntary manslaughter in the fatal shooting of Jonathan Ferrell.

A crowded courtroom heard opening statements and the first several witnesses in the trial against Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police officer Randall “Wes” Kerrick, who officials say shot an unarmed man ten times.

Prosecutor Adren Harris told the court Monday that when an officer pointed a taser at Ferrell, he feared for his life and ran between police cars, where Kerrick was standing with gun drawn.

In opening arguments, defense attorney Michael Greene said that Ferrell’s erratic behavior gave Kerrick little choice but to defend himself. As officers arrived, he yelled “shoot me!”

Kerrick was one of the three officers to respond to the woman’s call. It never was about race.

GLENN: Prosecutors weren’t happy either, and a week later took the case before a different grand jury, which did indict Kerrick on manslaughter charges.

Kerrick faces up to 11 years in prison if convicted over the incident, which has already seen Charlotte pay the dead man’s family $2.25 million in a wrongful death lawsuit. He was charged just hours after the shooting, before black men died during arrests or while in custody in Ferguson, Missouri; North Charleston, South Carolina; and Baltimore, among other places, sparking a national debate on police tactics. That video has never been shown publicly. The most emotional moment came when his fiancee, Caché Heidel, broke down in tears as she confided about a disagreement she and Ferrell had the morning before he died.

Ferrell couldn’t find his cellphone after exiting the wrecked auto, prosecutors say.

Ferrell went to the first house he saw, kicking and pounding on the door. Sarah McCartney testified Monday she was alone with her 1-year-old son.

“I was terrified”, McCartney said. Instead, the former Florida A&M football player kicked out a window of the auto and looked for help.

There was “no, ‘I need help!” Jonathan Freeze, an emergency medical technician from a volunteer fire department a mile away, testified that he checked Ferrell’s right wrist and the right side of his neck and found no pulse. Kerrick’s DNA was under Ferrell’s fingernails, Greene said. The prosecutor said Kerrick fired six more bullets into Ferrell.

Ferrell fell on Kerrick after he was shot four times, not because he was attacking the officer, Harris said. He had a small cut on the inside of his cheek and red discoloration on his cheek and chin from what his attorneys contend was Ferrell’s fist. He said this is a case of an officer using excessive force and asked jurors, “Who polices police when they do wrong?” The protesters who want to demonstrate and want to march and want to get their message out, I want to protect them too, keep them out of harm’s way.