Judge: No immunity for Georgia officer who shot fleeing man

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

Russ Bynum, Associated Press Updated 1:52 pm CDT, Friday, September 27, 2019



SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — A judge denied a former Georgia police officer's request for immunity from prosecution in the fatal shooting of a fleeing, unarmed man after reviewing body camera video in which the officer states: "He started taking off, so I fired."

Former Kingsland police officer Zechariah Presley is scheduled to stand trial starting Monday on charges of voluntary manslaughter and violating his oath of office. Presley killed 33-year-old Tony Green after a traffic stop and foot chase June 20, 2018, in coastal Camden County near the Georgia-Florida state line.

Presley's attorneys had asked Superior Court Judge Stephen Scarlett to grant him immunity, saying the shooting was justified because Presley feared his life was in danger. The judge rejected that argument after viewing footage from Presley's body and dash cameras in court Tuesday. In the video , Presley says Green tried to grab his stun gun during a struggle.

"While it is clear from the body camera video that Presley was distraught and fearful during and after that incident, it is unrebutted at this stage of the proceedings that Green was 'taking off' at the time Presley fired his weapon," Scarlett wrote in his order Thursday. "...Moreover, Green had no weapon on him."



Read more: https://www.chron.com/news/crime/article/Judge-No-immunity-for-Georgia-officer-who-shot-14473120.php

[Coventina]

1. He needs to spend the rest of his miserable life in jail. n/t

[marble falls]

2. If he'd kept his mouth shut kept yelling, where's his gun - he had a gun, I ...

was in fear for my life the whole time, over and over, he'd have gotten away with it.

We need to take that license to murder away from all cops. Fire them if their videos suddenly go black or aren't turned on.

[safeinOhio]

3. Need to double the sentence

when crime is “under the color of law”.

[Iggo]

4. I think of it a little differently. (But I like yours, too.)

I just want what happens to that cop to be the same thing that would happen to me if I did that to a cop.

Equal protection under the law.

Not too much to ask.

[safeinOhio]

5. A few years back there was a cop

that was pulling over drunk drivers in Michigan and taking their drivers license. That was legal, however he used them to open credit card accounts and ran up all kinds of charges. His lawyer cited his 18 years on the force in asking for less punishment. The judge said because he had more power under the color of law he would give him the maximum sentence. I liked his thinking.

[Iggo]

6. Ayup.