We're deep into the trial of Jeronimo Yanez, the St. Anthony cop who killed Philando Castile last summer. The prosecution is coming to the end of presenting its case, which is fairly strong:
Yanez, 29, a St. Anthony police officer, is charged with second-degree manslaughter for shooting Castile, 32, shortly after 9 p.m. last July 6, and two counts of dangerous discharge of a firearm for endangering Castile's passengers, girlfriend Diamond Reynolds and her daughter, then 4.Noble is Jeffrey Noble, a prosecution expert who is apparently a retired deputy police chief from Irvine, California. He's likely mistaken about that last part -- the Larpenteur Avenue area is actually well known in the black community as a place where you are likely to be pulled over for Driving While Black. But that's part of the subtext of this trial.
Noble testified that Yanez had few details, including height or weight, when he linked Castile to an armed robbery suspect whom police had documented with a description and photo.
A transcript of Yanez's car-to-car call that night was previously published in court, showing that Yanez called partner Joseph Kauser and said that Castile looked like the suspect because of his "wide-set nose."
No other "reasonable" officer would have considered Castile the suspect, Noble said. (Authorities have said he wasn't.)
"I mean, hundreds of black men had to have driven by," Noble said. "That's absurd."
Here is a picture of the robbery suspect:
This is a picture of Castile:
Apparently these are two different men. To my knowledge, the convenience store robber is still out there, although the most recent report I can find dates back to October of last year. I still would like to know what's happening in that case.
As I've mentioned previously, I live on the border between St. Anthony and New Brighton. St. Anthony is very real to me. We'll continue to watch this trial carefully.
5 comments:
Looked at shots of the scene, and if it's the robber, he changed clothes for sure. Wrong color pants and shirt. Also nothing on whether any stolen items were recovered from the car, and whether Castile was carrying the same kind of gun used in the robbery. And for that matter, even if Castile had committed armed robbery, that doesn't necessarily excuse shooting him.
Not a slam dunk, but not looking good for Yanez, IMO.
Looked at shots of the scene, and if it's the robber, he changed clothes for sure. Wrong color pants and shirt. Also nothing on whether any stolen items were recovered from the car, and whether Castile was carrying the same kind of gun used in the robbery. And for that matter, even if Castile had committed armed robbery, that doesn't necessarily excuse shooting him.
Bubba, the robbery took place a few days earlier, so what Castile was wearing wouldn't have entered into the equation. The point I'm making is whether it was reasonable for Yanez to think the driver he stopped might be the perp in the robbery. The expert witness doesn't seem to think so, but I'm not convinced of that.
I do agree that the shooting itself may not be justified in any event.
Good point--physically they sure look similar, that's for sure.
They all look alike anyway... Is that the defense?
I don’t know what the defense is yet, but I sincerely doubt “they all look alike” is the peg on which they will hang their case, Gino. The prosecution was still presenting the case when I wrote this post this morning. The point I’m making is that while a close look seems to indicate the robber and Castile are two different guys, Yanez didn’t have the time to study the faces in the same manner that we can now, a year on from the event. And I would think that finding the perp in the liquor store robbery would help the case against Yanez, because it would add weight to the assertion that Yanez had no reason to suspect Castile.
From what I know about the case, Yanez’s state of mind is going to be the determining factor. I do know this much; not many cops get sent to prison. I also know that Yanez’s lawyer, Earl Grey, is one of the best criminal defense lawyers in the Twin Cities. Stay tuned.
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