Source: Mark Lyons / Getty
Former Cincinnati police officer Ray Tensing will not be prosecuted for a third trial in the case of the fatal shooting of motorist Sam DuBose.
Tensing stopped DuBose over a missing front license plate in 2015. While Tensing claims that DuBose drove off and dragged the officer in an attempt to get away, the footage on his body camera contradicts his statement.
Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters announced Tuesday in a press conference that he finds the outcome of the situation disappointing, professionally and personally.
“The division in this country is profound,” Deters said in his press conference. “This goes both ways hard. And in this case we have jurors who will not vote to convict a police officer.”
The prosecutor went on to say that after discussing the matter with multiple jurors, Black and white, they’ve told him they’ll never be able to get a conviction on the case.
Outside of the prosecutor’s office, Terina Allen, brother of Sam DuBose responded to the decision, saying that he is “absolutely disgusted” that Tensing is not being charged for murdering his brother.
“Since we’ve got more racists in Hamilton County than not, we basically can’t get a conviction — that’s what we were told,” Allen told reporters out side of the prosecutor’s office on Tuesday. “If that’s the standard, then we’re all doomed.”
Allen’s statement brings light to a devastating issue in our country — the prejudice that permeates through our legal system from its constituents is what keeps these cases from getting deserved outcomes.
Deters added that the case has been referred to the federal court of Southern Ohio for a potential civil rights violation, saying the federal case has a much better chance to land a conviction.
