CHICAGO — Ask any defense lawyer, and they’ll tell you it’s always a risk when a defendant takes the stand. For Chicago police Ofc. Jason Van Dyke and his defense team, it was a risk that didn’t pay off, according to the 12 jurors in the monumental murder trial.
In interviews following Friday’s guilty verdicts for second-degree murder and 16 counts of aggravated battery with a firearm, the jurors said Van Dyke’s testimony was one of the key factors that led to their decision. The officer’s recollection of the Oct. 20, 2014, fatal shooting of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald didn’t reflect what was seen in the dashboard camera video.
“We just didn’t buy it,” one juror said. “I thought it was rehearsed.”
“To me, he should have thought more carefully about his decision,” said another juror.
In his 90-minute testimony, Van Dyke, a 14-year veteran Chicago police officer, said “[a]ll I could see was him trying to put up with his left hand and holding the knife in his right hand. I just kept looking at the knife and shot at it i just wanted him to get rid of the knife. I wanted him to stay on the ground because it was going to be an easier position to place him under arrest.”
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But the dash-cam video did not show McDonald aggressively moving toward Van Dyke. Instead, he’s seen walking away from Van Dyke when he is shot 16 times.
Another case of the officer’s own words ultimately hurting his case was what Van Dyke said shortly before the shooting: “Oh my God, we’re going to have to shoot this guy. Why aren’t they shooting that guy?” That reaction changed at least one juror’s mind about Van Dyke’s innocence.
When the jury first began deliberating after closing arguments Thursday, a quick blind vote was taken on what verdict jurors would choose. Seven voted to convict, two voted for acquittal and three were undecided.
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But the jurors talked through the case to come up with the eventual verdict.
“Deliberations couldn’t have been better,” said a juror, adding that members listened to one another as they come up with their decision.
One of the biggest questions the jurors were asked dealt with the decision not to convict Van Dyke on the official misconduct count. Members of the jury said Van Dyke was authorized to carry and use a gun, and in his mind, he believed he was doing the right thing. In fact, the officer’s belief that he was acting properly was one of the mitigating factors that led jurors to choose second-degree murder.
While the enormity of their task was no secret — one juror said she wasn’t sleeping for three weeks — the members felt serving on the jury was a privilege that they took seriously. One juror described the experience as amazing, but another juror said, “We were like hostages and VIPs.”
That same juror, however, had no qualms about her role in Chicago’s trial of the century.
“I did my civil duty, and I’m proud of that,” she said.
Chicago police Ofc. Jason Van Dyke (left) and his lawyer, Dan Herbert, listen as the jury delivers its guilty verdicts Friday, Oct. 5. (Photo by Antonio Perez – Pool | Getty Images)
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