Charlotte Officer's Attorneys Object to Second Grand Jury

The attorneys for accused Charlotte-Mecklenburg police Officer Randall Kerrick have asked a judge to block prosecutors from taking Kerrick’s voluntary manslaughter case before a second grand jury on Monday.

The attorneys for accused Charlotte-Mecklenburg police Officer Randall Kerrick have asked a judge to block prosecutors from taking Kerrick’s voluntary manslaughter case before a second grand jury on Monday.

Earlier this week, a panel of grand jurors declined to indict Kerrick in connection with the Sept. 14 shooting death of Jonathan Ferrell, who was hit by 10 bullets from the officer’s gun. Ferrell was unarmed.

In rejecting the voluntary manslaughter charge, the jurors asked prosecutors to bring back a lesser charge for them to consider.

Attorney General Roy Cooper quickly announced that his staff would take the case – and the same charge – to another grand jury on Monday.

His reasoning: The first grand jury had 14 instead of the normal 18 members, lowering the odds that prosecutors would get the 12 votes they needed for the indictment. He added that voluntary manslaughter remained “the most appropriate charge given the facts in the case,” the Charlotte Observer reports.

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