Ex-Cop Guilty Of Murdering Unarmed Teen Jordan Edwards Sentenced To 15 Years In Prison
UPDATE: A Texas jury has decided that Roy Oliver, the man who killed black teen Jordan Edwards back in 2017, will spend the next 15 years of his life in prison. Along with the sentence, he will be fined $10,000 for the case, according to CNN.
Read the original story below.
The ex-cop from Texas who fatally shot black teen Jordan Edwards back in 2017 has been found guilty.
Roy Oliver, 38, was convicted of murder by jurors on Tuesday in a Dallas courtroom according to Dallas News. He faces up to life in prison. Jurors deliberated for 12 hours and had the choice of finding Oliver guilty of manslaughter, a felony that carries a lesser punishment — up to 20 years — compared with up to life in prison for murder and aggravated assault.
READ: US Department Of Justice Investigating Jordan Edwards Shooting
Although Oliver was found guilty of murder, he was found not guilty on additional charges of two counts of aggravated assault, The two counts stemmed from him firing his rifle into the car full of teens — including Jordan — as they left a house party last year.
"I just want to say I'm happy, very happy," Odell Edwards, Jordan's father, said to reporters following the verdict. "It's been a long time, hard year. Just really happy."
Daryl Washington, the attorney with for the Edwards family, added that the verdict "meant more than justice for Jordan."
"It's about Tamir Rice. It's about Walter Scott. It's about Alton Sterling," he said. "It's about every, every African-American, unarmed African-American, who has been killed and who has not gotten justice."
Jordan was a freshman that was attending Mesquite High School when he was killed. He was leaving a party with friends in Balch Springs, Texas, after hearing gunshots. As he was leaving he was shot through the passenger side window of the vehicle by Oliver. Jordan was 15.
Source: Dallas News