Posted on 07/12/2007 8:17:43 AM PDT by 300magnum
WILMINGTON - Eighteen New Hanover County residents gave former Deputy Chris Long the opportunity to move on with his life Wednesday. After more than two hours of discussions, a grand jury refused to indict the former sheriff's deputy on manslaughter charges for the Dec. 1 shooting death of Peyton Strickland, a college student from Durham. With that, state Attorney General Roy Cooper declared the case closed.
Time seemed to freeze as the judge read the decision. Members of Long's family, squeezed together on a courtroom bench, held their breath.
"No true bill," said Richmond County Judge Michael Beale.
Long, 35, doubled over and sobbed with relief. His wife clutched his hand. His mother whimpered.
Strickland's father, Don, sat perfectly still for a few moments, then slipped out the back as Long's family gathered in a tangle of hugs.
The Strickland family later issued a brief statement: "Our unarmed 18-year-old son Peyton was killed when Chris Long, a deputy sheriff, fired three bullets from a submachine gun through the front door of Peyton's house while he was answering the unlocked door. The failure of the grand jury to indict Long on any charge compounds our family's tragedy."
In December, a different New Hanover County grand jury declined to indict Long on a second-degree murder charge.
Law enforcement professionals in North Carolina considered Wednesday's decision a victory. Police organizations had watched the case closely, fearing that it could result in undue scrutiny of their split-second decisions. No officer in the state has been criminally prosecuted for killing someone in the line of duty since at least 2000.
"Today's decision is welcome news for all of us," said John Midgette, the director of the N.C. Police Benevolent Association. "The citizens spoke."
Able to trust judgment
The grand jury's refusal to indict Long gave officers more confidence in their immunity from criminal charges, particularly in New Hanover County.
"It clears the road for emergency response teams to use their best judgment, as flawed as it sometimes can be," said Frank Snyder, a Wilmington doctor who had worked alongside Long on the sheriff's department's emergency response team. "Everyone involved in this believes that [shooting Strickland] was a mistake now. But I wouldn't doubt that something like this would happen again."
In an affidavit, Long said the emergency response team of the New Hanover County Sheriff's Office had been called to search for a stolen PlayStation 3 video machine and arrest Strickland on robbery and assault charges. Long said deputies had been warned Strickland probably housed an arsenal of guns that could penetrate their body armor. Long said he mistook the sound of the unit's battering ram for gunshots when he shot Strickland through the closed front door of the home the student was renting in Wilmington.
Beale gave both Long and Don Strickland permission to address the grand jury -- a rare move. During his appearance Tuesday, Strickland countered Long's assessment of the threat Peyton Strickland posed, said Patrick Murphy, a prosecutor from the state Attorney General's Office. He didn't elaborate, and Don Strickland was unavailable for comment.
Long's law career over
Long's life had been on hold since the shooting. He lost his job a week later, ending a 10-year career spent primarily with the sheriff's emergency response team. Until recently, his family has gotten by mostly with help from friends and former co-workers.
"What Chris got was probably one of the greatest gifts he never anticipated," said Snyder, his friend. "He had all of his friends and all of the people at church gather around him and support him."
Michael McGuinness, one of Long's attorneys, said Long has found steady work. He knows his career in law enforcement is over, friends say.
McGuinness said he hopes Long's family can begin to heal now.
"I think all they want to do is get home and have lunch and start to get on with their lives," McGuinness said.
The Stricklands are trying to figure out how to get on with theirs. On Tuesday, Don Strickland leaned into a courtroom bench and thought about the summer he was supposed to have with his son.
He and Peyton had planned a monthlong fly-fishing and motorcycle trip to Montana.
(News researcher Brooke Cain contributed to this report.)
If memory serves the guy killed was involved in breaking into another home and pistol whipping the occupants while robbing them of the PS3 among other things.
Hardly anyone we should miss.
Hardly anyone we should miss.
Hopefully, you never suffer the murder/loss of a child.
I remember seeing that video and the cop ordered him to get up, and he complied and got shot for his efforts.
I had never been so mad in my life at a LEO.
Whether or not this was a good shooting should not give LEOs a pass on all their mistakes. A bonehead move is a bonehead move.
Think of it this way: Your life is as precious as any LEOs, but if they break into your house and you think they are criminals and you shoot one, you will not get a pass, you will either be shot on the spot or convicted if you live(which is highly doubtful).
Leos need to be held to the same standard as the rest of us. Hell, he didn't even know who he was shooting, it could have been anyone.
Yep. This GJ was composed entirely of low grade morons. I'll lay you money the 'prosecutor' did a half assed job of it as well.
For a DA to not get an indictment is ridiculous.
L
He was aquitted.
Jurors Acquit Ex-Deputy Accused In Airman’s Shooting
KNBC ^ | 6/29/07
Posted on 06/29/2007 12:51:40 PM EDT by ZGuy
LOS ANGELES — Jurors acquitted a former sheriff’s deputy Thursday on charges in connection with the shooting of an unarmed airman after a January 2006 car chase in Chino.
I hardly call this murder. As for hopefully, hopefully none of my children ever become thugs who think it’s a good idea to commit armed robbery and assault.
Hardly anyone we should miss.
You are a sick person, get help.
Get help for what not having sympathy for criminals?
Is the fact that the only reason the police had to go to that apartment in the first place was because this guy had been involved in a violent crime lost on you?
This man is a POS and he should have never been a deputy. This swat team crap in this country has got to be brought to an end.
And yet there are those who think it was murder, pathetic.
What are you doing on this board, the last I heard a conservative believed in due process. You believe a cop is judge, jury, executioner.
Another sorry SOB Nazi SS who gets away with murder. Just like OJ and hundreds of others who murder innocent people and get away with it as the SS are never charged.
No, I believe that when cops go to apprehend dangerous criminals that sometimes bad things happen.
I notice that you fail to acknowledge that the guy killed committed a violent crime and that the commission of that violent crime resulted in the armed visit by the police.
Convenient how that works out for you.
I notice that you fail to acknowledge that the guy killed committed a violent crime and that the commission of that violent crime resulted in the armed visit by the police.
LOL. I hope you are not in law enforcement.
Why because I place the bulk of the responsibility for this shooting on the criminal that precipitated it?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.