7:45 p.m. The father of an unarmed black teenager who was fatally shot by a white former police officer in Texas says his son was always smiling, adding: "He gets that from me." Odell Edwards testified Tuesday night at the sentencing of Roy Oliver. The ex-police officer in Balch Springs was convicted of murder earlier in the day for the slaying of Edwards' son, 15-year-old Jordan Edwards. The father says he approved of his son going to the house party where the shooting occurred because he'd been to similar parties without incident. (Story continued below...)

Edwards said he learned of the shooting when he got a call from the driver of the car his son was riding in when he was shot. He says it wasn't clear what happened. He says he tried to call back repeatedly, then drove around looking for where his son might be. ___ 6:15 p.m. An expert who tracks police shootings nationwide says the murder conviction of an ex-police officer in Texas is extremely rare.

Philip Stinson is a criminologist at Bowling Green State University. He says that since 2005, only six non-federal law enforcement officers have been convicted of murder for on-duty shootings. He says four of those were later overturned, and the latest conviction occurred Tuesday when a Dallas County jury convicted former Balch Springs police officer Roy Oliver. Experts say that securing convictions against officers are often challenging because jurors are inclined to believe police testimony. Oliver was found guilty of murder in the death of 15-year-old Jordan Edwards. Oliver says he feared for his partner's safety when he fired into a car full of black teenagers that was driving away from a party in suburban Dallas.

Oliver was later fired from the Balch Springs Police Department. ___ 4:40 p.m. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is responding to the murder conviction of a white former police officer who killed an unarmed black teenager last year in suburban Dallas. The Republican tweeted Tuesday that "this life should never have been lost," referring to 15-year-old Jordan Edwards.

The teen was killed when then-Balch Springs police officer Roy Oliver fired into a car full of teenagers leaving a house party in April 2017. Abbott's tweet came shortly after Oliver was convicted by a jury in Dallas. Abbott came under criticism from Texas Democrats last year over his muted response to the shooting. Abbott didn't say anything publicly for days before giving the media a statement that expressed condolences, saying Edwards' family deserved a fair and full investigation. ___ 3:20 p.m.