Colo. officer convicted, another acquitted in first of 3 trials in death of Elijah McClain

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• Geoff Bennett:

  Jurors have convicted one white Colorado police officer and acquitted another in the first of three trials stemming from the 2019 death of Elijah McClain, a 23-year-old Black man.

  McClain was unarmed while walking home in Aurora, Colorado. He was wearing a face mask because of a blood disorder that made him feel cold. After a driver called police saying he was acting suspiciously, officers arrived and forcefully restrained him. The use of force set other events into motion, leading to McClain's death.

  William Brangham has a look at this case, which became a national focal point on policing and racial justice.

• William Brangham:

  Geoff, almost immediately after arriving on scene, officers put McClain in a choke hold that caused him to lose consciousness. Nearly 20 minutes later, paramedics injected him with a sedative known as ketamine. McClain's heart stopped, and he died in a hospital several days later.

  Yesterday, in the first of three trials, officer Randy Roedema was found guilty of criminally negligent homicide and third-degree assault. A second former officer, Jason Rosenblatt, was acquitted.

  Last night, McClain's mother exited the courtroom, later telling reporters that Roedema's sole conviction was not adequate justice.

  Julia Cardi is a reporter for The Denver Gazette who has been covering this trial.

  Julia, thank you so much for being here.

  You were in the courtroom when this mixed verdict came down. Can you give us a sense of what was the reaction? How did people respond to this?

• Julia Cardi, The Denver Gazette:

  Sure.

  There was a lot of emotion both sides of the aisle, if you will. As you already mentioned, Elijah McClain's mom was really dismayed by the verdict. I heard a couple of gasps from, I believe, a supporter of his mother when the acquittal was read out.

  Both the officer who was acquitted, Jason Rosenblatt, and one of his attorneys teared up when the verdict was read out. And there was also a lot of emotion from people who appeared to be family members of the defendants in the courtroom as well.

  And the judge had asked people to refrain from any outbursts, knowing that it was just a really emotionally charged case, but there was definitely a lot of palpable emotion from both sides.

• William Brangham:

  Can you tell us a little bit more about the state's case here? How did they argue that these two officers were complicit in his death?

• Julia Cardi:

  Really, the crux of their argument was that the officers chose to use force at really every stage of the encounter, rather than de-escalate the situation.

  They argued that the officers ignored Elijah McClain's repeated cries that he couldn't breathe, that they didn't monitor his pulse or breathing, that they did not tell the paramedics called to the scene that Elijah McClain was struggling to breathe, that he had been vomiting, and instead told the paramedics things like he was acting crazy, he was showing really extreme strength.

  And the prosecutors, also, they really brought in experts who said that the struggle with police led to this cycle of health complications for Elijah McClain that ultimately made him more vulnerable to the ketamine injection.

• William Brangham:

  Yes, tell me a little bit more about that, because the defense did not choose to bring any witnesses, and they really argued that it was the injection of that sedative, ketamine, that was the principal reason for his death.

• Julia Cardi:

  That's right.

  And something else that the defense attorneys latched on to as the prosecutors presented their case was that the medical experts brought by the attorney general's office really were mixed in how definitive their opinions were on whether they felt the actions of the officers actually contributed to Elijah McClain's death.

• William Brangham:

  And it is worth noting the timing here. We are talking about a young man who died almost four years ago.

  Why is it that it took so long? What was it that finally brought this case to trial?

• Julia Cardi:

  Well, I think really, in the wake of everything we saw in 2020, the governor of Colorado asked the state attorney general, Phil Weiser, to take a look at the case.

  And so Attorney General Weiser convened a grand jury statewide, who ultimately brought back an indictment of these three police officers and two paramedics in late 2021, so about two years after Elijah McClain's death and about a little over two years ago now.

• William Brangham:

  And we know jury selection is under way now for the — for the trial of the third officer in this case.

  Who is that and what is that officer being accused of?

• Julia Cardi:

  His name is Nathan Woodyard.

  And he is accused of being the first officer to actually stop Elijah McClain. And he is also accused of being the officer who used the carotid hold or neck hold on Elijah McClain that caused him to briefly lose consciousness. He faces a charge of reckless manslaughter and of criminally negligent homicide.

  And jury selection began today in his case, and his trial is expected to last a couple of weeks as well.

• William Brangham:

  All right, that is Julia Cardi of The Denver Gazette.

  Thank you so much for your time.

• Julia Cardi:

  Thank you so much. Thanks for having me.

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