What happened in other trials like Ray Tensing's?

Kevin Grasha | Cincinnati Enquirer

Since Nov. 12, when Ray Tensing’s first trial ended with a deadlocked jury, at least four other police officers nationwide have stood trial in fatal shootings – and not one was convicted.

Three of the cases ended in acquittals, and one ended in a mistrial.

The jury in Tensing’s retrial ended a fourth day of deliberations Thursday without reaching a verdict, showing the difficulty it faces in weighing contradictory expert testimony.

Jurors also heard during testimony a police investigator and prosecution witness who unexpectedly gave her opinion that Tensing might have been justified in shooting unarmed African-American driver Sam DuBose to death two summers ago.

Attorney Mark Krumbein, who has handled about 80 murder cases in three decades, said the longer deliberations stretch on, "the more likely it is there will be a hung jury or a not guilty finding."

"It typically means there's doubt about what the evidence is," said Krumbein, who has been following the Tensing case.

Research shows it's uncommon for juries to convict a police officer of a crime connected to an on-duty shooting. Jurors must determine if Tensing, a former University of Cincinnati police officer, was justified when he shot DuBose as he tried to drive away from a traffic stop on July 18, 2015.

Deliberations will resume at 8:30 a.m. Friday in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court. Tensing is charged with murder and voluntary manslaughter.

Philip Stinson, a criminology professor at Bowling Green State University who studies police shootings, told The Enquirer after the first trial that jurors find it difficult "to second-guess the split-second, life-or-death decisions that officers make."

Stinson has compiled a database of police shootings dating back to 2005. Since then, only one law enforcement officer nationwide has been convicted of murder, although four saw their murder convictions overturned, according to updated data he provided this week.

Of 82 law enforcement officers arrested for murder or manslaughter in on-duty shootings since 2005, only 29 were convicted of a crime. In the cases where an officer was convicted, it often was for a lesser offense, Stinson said.

The four trials since November all involved black victims. One of the officers is black; one is Latino.

More: Urban League, Partnering Center forum to look beyond Tensing trial

On Wednesday in Milwaukee, former police officer Dominique Heaggan-Brown was acquitted in the on-duty shooting last year of Sylville K. Smith as he ran away with a gun.

Last week, a jury in Minnesota acquitted Jeronimo Yanez, the police officer who fatally shot Philando Castile during a traffic stop.

In May, Tulsa, Oklahoma Police Officer Betty Jo Shelby was found not guilty of first-degree manslaughter in the shooting of Terence Crutcher. Shelby, who is white, said she fired her gun after it appeared Crutcher reached inside his SUV for what she thought was a gun. He was unarmed.

That jury had three African-Americans – the same number as the jury in Tensing’s retrial.

In December, a mistrial was declared in the first-degree murder case against Michael Slager, a South Carolina officer who shot Walter Scott in the back as he ran away after a traffic stop. The jury in that case could not agree on a verdict.

Slager, who was fired from the police force, later pleaded guilty to a federal charge of using excessive force. The murder charge was dismissed as part of the plea.

4 days, 25 ½ hours of deliberations

The jury of nine women and three men in Tensing's retrial have been deliberating since Monday. In four days, they have deliberated approximately 25 ½ hours. After 25 hours over four days in the first trial, the judge ruled they were hopelessly deadlocked.

Also Thursday, the jury submitted what is believed to have been its second question. Judge Leslie Ghiz addressed it in her chambers. Officials did not say what the question was.

The other question came on the second day of deliberations and involved the location of a piece of evidence.

Ghiz has kept tight control over her courtroom and has ordered extensive security measures throughout the entire fifth floor of the Hamilton County Courthouse, where her courtroom is located. Access to her courtroom is controlled by deputies.

USA Today contributed to this report.