Ex-Detective Cleared in Killing
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A former Louisville police detective was acquitted of murder, manslaughter and reckless homicide Wednesday in the fatal shooting of a teenage drug suspect that stoked racial tensions in the city.
The former detective, McKenzie Mattingly, showed no emotion as the verdicts were read. The jurors -- 10 white and two black -- returned the partial verdict after more than eight hours of deliberations; the judge declared a mistrial on a separate charge of wanton endangerment after the jury was unable to reach agreement on that count.
Mattingly was charged with shooting Michael Newby, 19, three times in the back Jan. 3 during an undercover drug buy.
The shooting sparked weeks of protests in part because Newby was the seventh black man killed by Louisville police since 1998. Mattingly, who was fired for violating the department’s use-of-force policy, is white.
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