The jury in the manslaughter trial for the Charlotte, North Carolina police officer who shot and killed an unarmed black man who was seeking help after he crashed his car in 2013 was unable to reach a verdict on Friday.
After nearly four days of deliberations over whether to find Officer Randall Kerrick guilty for shooting and killing Jonathan Ferrell, the jury foreman at first said they were making progress earlier in the day, but said a verdict could not be reached after its third eight-to-four vote. It is not known which way they were voting.
Ferrell’s family members were silent as they heard the judge declare the trial over without a verdict. They had already waited two years to see Kerrick brought to trial. The case now remains open “for further proceedings,” the judge said. Ferrell’s mother, Georgia Ferrell, said that when she heard the judge’s announcement, “I felt that I had to keep fighting, have to seek justice.”
Ferrell, a 24-year-old football player at Florida A&M;, had crashed his car on the night of September 14, 2013 and went to get help from the nearest house around 2 a.m. But after he knocked on the door, a woman inside called the police. Three police officers arrived and immediately after seeing Ferrell, one fired his Taser but missed and Officer Kerrick opened fire, hitting Ferrell 10 times and killing him. The incident was caught on dashcam video from Kerrick’s car.
The officers claimed afterward that Ferrell was acting “aggressively” and may have been intoxicated, but a later toxicology report showed his blood alcohol level was below the legal limit. During Kerrick’s trial, another officer testified that Ferrell appeared to be in a “zombie state” and “amped up” and that he kept trying to crawl over Officer Kerrick even after being shot.
After the shooting, an investigation by the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department found that it was “excessive” and that Kerrick “did not have a lawful right to discharge his weapon during this encounter.” While a grand jury initially convened after the shooting decided not to indict him for voluntary manslaughter, a second was convened when it was discovered that the first wasn’t composed of a full panel. The second grand jury indicted Kerrick in early 2014. The city of Charlotte also settled a wrongful-death lawsuit brought by Ferrell’s family in May for $2.25 million without admitting liability.
Ferrell’s case is extremely similar to that of Renisha McBride, a black woman who was in a car crash in the Detroit area who sought help at a nearby house. In her case, the person who answered shot her in the face through a screen door, killing her. Theodore Wafer, the man who shot her, initially claimed he accidentally fired but then said it was in self defense. He was found guilty last year of three charges, including second-degree murder.