In a judicial decision that is sure to send shock waves throughout the law enforcement community, a Georgia cop was sentenced to life in prison Wednesday for tasering a handcuffed man to death in 2014.
On April 11, 2014, East Point Police Sergeant Marcus Eberhart was upset at having chased Gregory Towns through the woods after responding to a call of domestic violence.
But Towns, 24, became winded and had given up by the time Eberhart and his partner, Corporal Howard Weems, caught up to him as we reported last year when the cops were indicted.
The cops handcuffed him and ordered him to walk, but Towns said he was too tired to walk, so he asked the cops ten times for a few minutes to allow him to catch his breath.
But the cops started tasering him in an attempt to get him walk, tasering him 10 times within a 30-minute period, including one point where he was in the water in a creek.
He ended up dying on the scene.
A witness photographed the above photo, which was used as evidence against the cops.
Weems was sentenced to only five years in prison and will only have to serve 18 months because he was found not guilty of felony murder and aggravated assault, but guilty of involuntary manslaughter, reckless conduct and violation of oath of office.
Corporal Howard Weems, left, and Sergeant Marcus Eberhart, right.
According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the judge did not have the leeway to offer Eberhart a lighter sentence because he was found guilty on all charges, including felony murder and aggravated assault.
An autopsy determined that Towns suffered from heart disease, which was used as an excuse by the officers’ attorneys for his death, but the jury did not buy it.
The defense attorneys also argued that police have the right to taser people when they are not complying, but the jury did not buy that excuse either, which is surprising considering how often juries succumb to the Blue Privilege theory.
I wonder how these guys managed to get convicted with less evidence against them than Michael Slager.
https://photographyisnotacrime.com/...-prison-for-tasering-handcuffed-man-to-death/
On April 11, 2014, East Point Police Sergeant Marcus Eberhart was upset at having chased Gregory Towns through the woods after responding to a call of domestic violence.
But Towns, 24, became winded and had given up by the time Eberhart and his partner, Corporal Howard Weems, caught up to him as we reported last year when the cops were indicted.
The cops handcuffed him and ordered him to walk, but Towns said he was too tired to walk, so he asked the cops ten times for a few minutes to allow him to catch his breath.
But the cops started tasering him in an attempt to get him walk, tasering him 10 times within a 30-minute period, including one point where he was in the water in a creek.
He ended up dying on the scene.
A witness photographed the above photo, which was used as evidence against the cops.
Weems was sentenced to only five years in prison and will only have to serve 18 months because he was found not guilty of felony murder and aggravated assault, but guilty of involuntary manslaughter, reckless conduct and violation of oath of office.
Corporal Howard Weems, left, and Sergeant Marcus Eberhart, right.
According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the judge did not have the leeway to offer Eberhart a lighter sentence because he was found guilty on all charges, including felony murder and aggravated assault.
An autopsy determined that Towns suffered from heart disease, which was used as an excuse by the officers’ attorneys for his death, but the jury did not buy it.
The defense attorneys also argued that police have the right to taser people when they are not complying, but the jury did not buy that excuse either, which is surprising considering how often juries succumb to the Blue Privilege theory.
I wonder how these guys managed to get convicted with less evidence against them than Michael Slager.
https://photographyisnotacrime.com/...-prison-for-tasering-handcuffed-man-to-death/
