SeanTX
12-12-2013, 11:42 AM
Of course his lawyer says he was merely "trying to subdue" him . All these cases caught on tape makes you wonder how much worse things must have been in the "good old days."
The murdered inmate was in jail for misdemeanor charges of possession of drug paraphernalia and consuming a malt beverage on public property -- neither of which should be jail-able offenses.
http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/12/10/3450233/wake-prosecutor-plays-video-of.html#storylink=cpy
Wake prosecutor plays graphic video of fatal beating during officer's trial
By Thomasi McDonald
RALEIGH — Wake County District Attorney Colon Willoughby played and then re-played sections of a 13-second video in Superior Court that showed detention officer Markeith Council push, punch, elbow and twice slam an inmate head first on a concrete floor in a jail day room.
The 6-foot, nearly 300-pound jailer then handcuffed the limp, 5-foot 7-inch, 119-pound inmate and radioed for help.
The inmate, Shon Demetrius McClain, 40, died after the June 4 altercation, which took place a week after he had been booked into the Wake County jail on misdemeanor charges. On Aug. 6, Council was charged with voluntary manslaughter.
The playing of the video during the second day of Council’s trial was highly emotional for some members of McClain’s family. Several left the courtroom in tears while the video played.
snip
“We have an inmate who may or may have not struck a law enforcement officer,” James said. “The state has not presented evidence showing that my client intended to kill him, but to subdue him.”
Willoughby disagreed, saying to prove voluntary manslaughter, prosecutors did not have to prove that Council intended to kill McClain, only that Council’s actions resulted in injuries that caused McClain’s death. The judge denied the request to dismiss the charge.
Key medical testimony
Two medical experts, Dr. Tim Garner, a Raleigh neurosurgeon who treated McClain for 13 days before he died, and Dr. Lauren Scott, a pathologist with the state medical examiner’s office who performed the autopsy, both said he died as a result of injuries he received from his altercation with Council.
Scott said McClain twice being slammed on his head split his scalp open and that the lacerations had to be closed with surgical staples. There was bleeding under the surface of McClain’s scalp, along with bruising, swelling and bleeding behind the membrane that covered his brain.
SNIP
The murdered inmate was in jail for misdemeanor charges of possession of drug paraphernalia and consuming a malt beverage on public property -- neither of which should be jail-able offenses.
http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/12/10/3450233/wake-prosecutor-plays-video-of.html#storylink=cpy
Wake prosecutor plays graphic video of fatal beating during officer's trial
By Thomasi McDonald
RALEIGH — Wake County District Attorney Colon Willoughby played and then re-played sections of a 13-second video in Superior Court that showed detention officer Markeith Council push, punch, elbow and twice slam an inmate head first on a concrete floor in a jail day room.
The 6-foot, nearly 300-pound jailer then handcuffed the limp, 5-foot 7-inch, 119-pound inmate and radioed for help.
The inmate, Shon Demetrius McClain, 40, died after the June 4 altercation, which took place a week after he had been booked into the Wake County jail on misdemeanor charges. On Aug. 6, Council was charged with voluntary manslaughter.
The playing of the video during the second day of Council’s trial was highly emotional for some members of McClain’s family. Several left the courtroom in tears while the video played.
snip
“We have an inmate who may or may have not struck a law enforcement officer,” James said. “The state has not presented evidence showing that my client intended to kill him, but to subdue him.”
Willoughby disagreed, saying to prove voluntary manslaughter, prosecutors did not have to prove that Council intended to kill McClain, only that Council’s actions resulted in injuries that caused McClain’s death. The judge denied the request to dismiss the charge.
Key medical testimony
Two medical experts, Dr. Tim Garner, a Raleigh neurosurgeon who treated McClain for 13 days before he died, and Dr. Lauren Scott, a pathologist with the state medical examiner’s office who performed the autopsy, both said he died as a result of injuries he received from his altercation with Council.
Scott said McClain twice being slammed on his head split his scalp open and that the lacerations had to be closed with surgical staples. There was bleeding under the surface of McClain’s scalp, along with bruising, swelling and bleeding behind the membrane that covered his brain.
SNIP