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Last week a white Alabama police officer was found guilty of manslaughter for fatally shooting of an unarmed Black man in 2016. Officer Aaron Cody Smith fatally shot Greg Gunn in 2016. District Attorney Darryl Bailey said the state will ask for the maximum sentence CBS affiliate in Montgomery reported. Prosecutors charged Aaron Cody Smith with murder, and jurors returned the unanimous verdict on the charge of manslaughter.

According to the Montgomery Advertiser, Smith tased, clubbed, and fatally shot the 58-year-old which caused outrage and protests. The incident took place on February 25, 2016, at 3: 20 a.m. when Gunn was walking home from a card game when Smith pulled up beside him in a police SUV. Smith said he stopped Gunn because he saw a “black male wearing dark clothing,” which happened to fit the description of a burglary suspect. Smith claimed that Gunn put his hands in his pocket and started to walk fast, which Smith called “suspicious.” Gunn would later stop and complied with the stop also allowing Smith to frisk him.

“He didn’t get out of the Tahoe and say, ‘Excuse me sir, I just want to check on you.’ He didn’t get out and go, ‘Excuse me sir, I’ve got some questions, would you mind talking to me?’ “Deputy District Attorney Ben McGough said. “He didn’t do that because he had a badge and he had a gun. He immediately started barking orders at Greg Gunn, a man who had done nothing wrong and had committed no crime, a man who was bothering no one in the world.”

According to Smith’s testimony, Gunn knocked Smith’s hand away when touched something “hard” in his pants, so Smith tasered Gunn and Gunn “sidestepped” the officer and ran into his neighbor’s yard while Smith chasing him.

“Greg Gunn does not turn and charge the defendant,” McGough said. “He does not make a threat, he does not put up his fists. He doesn’t pick up a stick or a rock or pull a gun or knife, after being tased and beaten. Greg Gunn ran, and the defendant chased him.”

The officer’s defense team said Gunn grabbed a painter’s pole from a nearby porch. However, prosecutors argued that Gunn was never a threat. The defense also cited Alabama’s Stand Your Ground Law, which was the first time the law has been used by an officer in the state. The trial was repeatedly delayed as eight successive judges recused themselves from the case, according to The New York Times.

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