-Caveat Lector- <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/"> </A> -Cui Bono?- http://www.ctnow.com/scripts/editorial.dll?bfromind=349&eeid=1842560&eetype=article&render=y&ck=&ver=hb1.2.20 Smith Found Guilty By RACHEL GOTTLIEB The Hartford Courant March 14, 2000 LITCHFIELD - For the first time in Connecticut history, and in one of the few times ever, a sworn police officer was found guilty by a jury Monday for an on-duty shooting. A verdict of first-degree manslaughter, returned against a white police officer for shooting a black suspect, concluded a 12-day trial that followed highly publicized, racially charged police shootings in New York City and Hartford in which the officers involved were exonerated. At 3:45 p.m., a jury of five women and seven men withdrew from their deliberation quarters to announce their verdict in the historic murder trial of New Milford Police Officer Scott Smith for the death of Franklyn Reid. Smith now faces between five and 40 years in prison. He will be sentenced May 5. The courtroom had fallen into a sullen silence 20 minutes earlier when the jury forewoman knocked on a door to alert Superior Court Judge Charles D. Gill that a decision was reached after 10 hours and 20 minutes of discussions. In the minutes before the jurors walked through the door to announce their decision, whispers among the 60 visitors in the gallery ceased. Creaky wooden chairs were stilled. Now, each in the panel stood to face Smith. And Smith rose to face them. Reid's younger brother, Dwight Reid Jr., leaned forward and wiped his face with a tissue. Smith's parents, sister and law enforcement colleagues trained their eyes on the players. And the verdict was announced. To the charge of murder: not guilty. To the charge of first-degree intentional manslaughter with a firearm: guilty. Smith bowed his head. Reid's mother, Pearlylyn Reid, threw her left arm around her aunt, forming her fingers into a peace sign. To the charge of first-degree reckless manslaughter with a firearm: not guilty. In the gallery, visitors remained silent per Gill's order. ``I believe this will ring across the United States,'' the Rev. Henry Price, of Hartford, predicted outside the old stone courthouse later. Inside, police who came to support Smith remained together in the second-floor courtroom where the verdict was announced. A sheriff handed a box of tissues back to the officers. The box was placed on an empty chair and officers drew from it to dry their faces and wipe their noses. Wearing plain clothes, many sporting the cropped military haircut so popular among young officers, the officers' tear-stained, flush faces projected all they were willing to say about their grief. Some muttered angrily in low tones meant only for each other. Smith, who is white, had claimed he killed Reid, who was black, in self-defense. ``I was scared to death,'' he told jurors. Jurors who shared their thoughts, though, said Smith wasn't credible. ``We believed the testimony of the eyewitnesses and the physical evidence did not support Officer Smith's contention that he acted in self-defense,'' said juror John DiLauro, 33. Smith was released on the same $250,000 bond that he had posted before trial. He waded stoically through a sea of reporters and cameras waiting for him outside the court. He declined comment. His lawyer, John Kelly, also declined comment. It's likely he'll appeal. Waterbury State's Attorney John Connelly made clear it was a joyless victory for him. Here was a case of a young man killed, he said, wrongly by another young man, a police officer. ``It was a difficult case for everyone. I work with cops every day,'' Connelly, the former state police commissioner, said sadly. ``It's not a case of winning or losing. It's a case based on a set of facts.'' The jury showed a great deal of courage, Connelly said. And Connelly showed courage, too, said Hartford attorney Joseph Moniz, who attended closing arguments and followed the case through the media. ``Here we have a courageous prosecutor who had a very difficult job to do in that he works with police all the time. I take my hat off to him. This is the only case where a police officer was charged. I've always said with these other cases `let a jury decide.' '' Moniz represents the family of Malik Jones in a federal lawsuit and plans to file a similar suit in federal court on behalf of the family of Aquan Salmon of Hartford. Jones was killed by an East Haven officer in New Haven and Salmon, then 14, was killed by police in Hartford. No criminal charges were pressed in either case. Conflicted though he may have been, Connelly prosecuted Smith with vigor. He called 26 witnesses and entered 80 exhibits. He aggressively chipped away at testimony from the defense's 14 witnesses - including Smith's - and was nearly as tough questioning the value assigned to some of the nine exhibits entered by defense lawyer John J. Kelly. Through a succession of witnesses who saw snatches of Smith chasing and capturing Reid, Connelly painted a picture of a 27-year-old man who surrendered then died needlessly. He supported the witness accounts with physical evidence. The pursuit began at a Sunoco gas station on Route 202 in New Milford on a frigid December day in 1998. Smith was wearing plain clothes, but when Reid spotted him jumping from an unmarked car, he took off. Witnesses said Reid ran across the road without looking. Smith was right behind him. But here ended the similarities between the testimony of Smith and the witnesses. As Smith told it, Reid, wanted on warrants for threatening and violation of probation, ran back to the middle of the road and stopped, casting a steely, threatening stare back toward his pursuer. Smith said the look frightened him, so he pulled out his gun and hauled Reid back to the side of the road. Reid, though a mere 5 feet 4 to Smith's 6 feet 2, resisted Smith's physical pressure to drop to the ground, Smith recounted. And when he finally landed on his knees, Smith said, Reid refused to lay down and appeared to be reaching for something at his midsection, perhaps a weapon. That's when Smith pulled the trigger, he said, out of fear for his life. But more than one witness described seeing Reid standing in surrender, his hands up in the air as Smith pointed his gun. A truck driver recalled seeing him sitting down and leaning backward on his elbows. Next, and most damaging, a driver behind him said she saw Reid lying face down. It's logical that if he was sitting, Connelly told jurors, Smith would roll him onto his stomach. Smith stood to Reid's side, his left foot planted firmly on Reid's back, the witness recalled, and gripped Reid's hands behind his back. A specialist in identifying footwear imprints testified that a pattern on the back of Reid's bloody shirt is consistent with the pattern on the bottom of Smith's Timberland boot. And other medical and forensic experts said Smith pressed his gun flush up against Reid's back when he fired. In his closing arguments, Connelly told jurors that to believe Smith they would have to disbelieve the physical evidence and the testimony of witnesses who don't have the personal stake in the verdict that Smith does. Juror Allen McGrady, 54, the lone black juror, said the jury relied strictly on the evidence and testimony to make its decision.``Mr. Connelly,'' he said, ``had an overwhelming handle on the evidence.'' When asked if it was safe to say jurors did not accept all the testimony presented by defense witnesses, McGrady said, ``Absolutely. Obviously, we went more on the testimony of the state witnesses or we wouldn't have come to the conclusion we did.'' The tense trial drew passionate spectators on both sides of the aisle. Police supporters feared a dangerous precedent would be set if Smith was convicted of murder for a shooting in the line of duty. Reid's family had champions in the spectators' gallery, too - friends, African American ministers from the New Haven area and parishioners who decry what they fear is a trend of white police officers recklessly taking the lives of black men around the state and the nation. Jurors followed Gill's instructions and did not discuss recent high-profile police shooting cases, McGrady said, nor did they believe they were sending a message about police use of deadly force. ``Those were different cases and different scenarios. They didn't pertain to the evidence in this case.'' The Rev. Nora Wyatt, of Hartford, standing outside the courtroom after the verdict, said the trial is a victory - though a small one. ``The system worked,'' he said. ``It's historical. It means something, but it's just the beginning.'' Smith was suspended from New Milford's police force without pay Monday. There will be a hearing to terminate him, Mayor Arthur Peitler said. Meanwhile, town officials called counselors to the department to help Smith's fellow officers cope with the verdict. Joel Faxon, one of the lawyers who represents the Reids in a civil lawsuit filed against Smith and the New Milford Police Department, said Monday's conviction for intentional manslaughter could heavily influence the outcome of the civil suit. ``The trial and the civil lawsuit are all tied together,'' Faxon said. ``Liability has been established conclusively that he used unnecessary force in apprehending Franklyn Reid.'' Peitler said the town isn't ready to give up on the civil suit yet. ``We'll defend the lawsuit to the fullest of our ability.'' Before heading out to the cemetery with her family, Reid's mother paused to put the trial's outcome in perspective. ``It isn't going to bring back Franklyn, but at least we know justice has been served. Justice has a face - the face of Franklyn Reid.'' -- ----------------------- NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. 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