CHICAGO — Lawyers for a white Chicago police officer on trial for murder focused Tuesday on the past behaviour of the black teenager the officer shot 16 times.
Jason Van Dyke’s attorneys resumed presenting their case by calling probation officer Dina Randazzo, who testified that the teen, Laquan McDonald, had become “combative” during a juvenile hearing in August 2013. The testimony came a day after three county employees told jurors about physical altercations with McDonald.
McDonald was armed with a knife and had slashed the tires of a police car before Van Dyke arrived at the scene and repeatedly shot the teenager in 2014. McDonald was 17.
Defence attorneys are focusing on McDonald’s behaviour the day he was killed and in previous years. Under Illinois law, defendants who claim self-defence can present evidence about the past behaviour of the person they killed, even if they weren’t aware of that history when the killing occurred.
Prosecutors rested their case last week , and defence attorneys started presenting theirs Monday.
On Monday, Miguel DeJsuus, who works at the Cook County Juvenile Detention Center, told jurors of an incident in which McDonald told him he was on drugs before striking him. Joseph Plaud of the Cook County’s Sheriff’s Office testified about seeing McDonald “yelling, screaming, swearing” while he was in the juvenile court lock-up a little more than a year before the shooting.
But both witnesses, along with another man who worked in the lockup, acknowledged that they never spoke to Van Dyke about McDonald before the shooting — admissions designed to tell the jury that Van Dyke knew nothing about the teen’s past when he shot him.
A big question remaining for the trial is whether Van Dyke will testify. He isn’t obligated to testify, but he has the right to take the stand to give his version of what happened and only he can explain what he was thinking as he opened fire.
Another question is which — if any — other officers at the scene the defence will call to testify. Prosecutors called several last week, but others, including two charged with trying to cover up what happened to protect Van Dyke, have not testified.
A forensic pathologist also testified Monday for the defence, criticizing the official autopsy results . Shaku Teas said she believed at least 12 of the 16 shots fired by Van Dyke hit McDonald before the teen was on the ground. Teas’ testimony seems to contradict video of the shooting that shows the officer repeatedly shooting the teenager .