Judge Megan Shanahan declared a mistrial in the murder case against a former University of Cincinnati cop who fatally shot a black motorist in the head.
The jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict on either count against Ray Tensing after two days of deliberations, six days of testimony and a day of closing arguments. The jury remained hung throughout both days of deliberations.
Tensing was charged with murder and voluntary manslaughter after fatally shooting driver Samuel Dubose during a traffic stop in July 2015. He proclaimed he feared for his life and was being dragged by Dubose's care when he fired the fatal shots.
The prosecution found that Tensing was wearing a T-shirt with a Confederate flag emblem under his uniform at the time of the incident. They also found that Tensing issued the highest number of citations on the University of Cincinnati police force, with more than 82 percent going to black drivers.
The jury was made up of two black people and 10 white people. They were unable to agree on a verdict for either charge, despite being ordered by the judge to return to deliberations.
Prosecutors argued that a frame-by-frame analysis of Tensing's body camera footage showed beyond a reasonable doubt that Tensing was not being dragged by Dubose's car and had no justifiable reason to fear for his life.
Tensing's defense argued that the prosecution brought race into their arguments because the case wasn't strong enough to stand on its own. They said the prosecutors tried to paint Tensing as a racist during the trial.
This story will be updated as details come in.
