The North Carolina Attorney General's Office will not retry a Charlotte police officer whose voluntary manslaughter trial in the death of a man ended with a hung jury last week, officials said Friday, reports the Associated Press.
Senior Deputy Attorney General Robert Montgomery said in a letter to Mecklenburg County District Attorney Andrew Murray that charges against Officer Randall Kerrick would be dismissed. The Attorney General's Office handled the prosecution to avoid any conflict of interest for Mecklenburg County prosecutors.
Kerrick was charged in the shooting death of Jonathan Ferrell in September 2013. It happened as Kerrick and two other officers responded to a breaking and entering call. Ferrell had been in a car accident and was apparently seeking help at the home.
Ferrell wasn't armed, but Kerrick said that Ferrell charged at him and that he shot in self-defense.
After three weeks of testimony and four days of deliberations, the jury couldn't overcome its 8-4 deadlock in favor of acquittal, leading Superior Court Judge Robert Ervin to declare the mistrial.
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