88°F
weather icon Clear

Mistrial declared in Cincinnati police officer murder trial

CINCINNATI — An Ohio judge has declared a mistrial after the jury said it was deadlocked in the case of a white former police officer charged with murder in the fatal traffic stop shooting of an unarmed black motorist.

The Hamilton County jury had deliberated some 25 hours after getting the case at noontime Wednesday following Judge Megan Shanahan’s instructions. Twenty-six-year-old University of Cincinnati police officer Ray Tensing shot 43-year-old Sam DuBose in the head after pulling him over for a missing front license plate on July 19, 2015.

Tensing testified he feared he was going to be killed. Prosecutors said repeatedly the evidence contradicted Tensing’s story.

The jury of 10 whites and two blacks was seated Oct. 31.

The shooting is among those across the nation that have raised attention to how police deal with blacks.

Don't miss the big stories. Like us on Facebook.
THE LATEST
Burning Man removes pro-Palestinian sculpture from website

Debates and protests sparked by Israel’s war in the Gaza Strip have worked their way into seemingly every corner in the world — even the free-spirited desert festival in Nevada known as Burning Man.

Heavy fighting in Gaza’s Rafah keeps aid crossings closed

Heavy fighting between Israeli troops and Palestinian terrorists on the outskirts of the southern Gaza city of Rafah has left aid crossings inaccessible, U.N. officials said.