He might or he might not. He elected to have judge determine his guilt or innocence rather than a jury. All fine and good. But black leaders, including black ministers have told the judge that there will serious trouble if the man is found not guilty. This would be jury tampering if it were a jury trial. Don’t know if there is such a thing as “judge tampering”, but the threat don’t seem right.
Come on, he's a police officer who is claiming he fired because he felt his life and safety were in jeopardy. I don't know of too many cases where an officer failed to walk after claiming that.