At the heart of the Kelly Thomas murder case is a grainy black-and-white video that covers, almost in its entirety, the struggle between the homeless man and police officers at a bustling Fullerton bus depot on a summer night in 2011, reports the L.A. Times.
As jurors in Orange County, Calif., now deliberate the fate of the Fullerton PD officers, they must determine what that video actually shows.
Prosecutors say the tape clearly presents a confused and vulnerable Thomas who died because one bully cop picked a fight and another lost control and slammed Thomas in the face repeatedly with his stun gun. In the defense's telling, the video captures a violent and errant street person who gave police the fight of their lives.
Two seasoned defense attorneys with years of experience coming to the aid of officers accused of wrongdoing have asked the jury to put emotions aside and see the confrontation from the officers' perspective.
