From [HERE] The Wayne County Prosecutor's Office is filing an emergency appeal after Judge Cynthia Gray Hathaway unexpectedly granted a defense motion to drop the charge of involuntary manslaughter against Detroit Police SWAT Officer Joseph Weekley.
Weekley was accused of gross negligence in the killing of 7-year-old Aiyana-Stanley, and charged with involuntary manslaughter and negligent discharge of a submachine gun causing death.
However; as of 10 a.m. Friday, Wayne County Judge Cynthia Gray Hathaway, stating she wished to "err on the side of the defense," granted a standard defense motion to drop the first charge, which required willful negligence according to the jury instructions.
The jury was released until Monday.
Assistant Wayne County Prosecutor Robert Moran, calling it a "bad jury instruction," quickly objected and requested a stay. Hathaway said court would reconvene shortly after 11 a.m., but she returned early to announce the appeal and dismissal for the day.
Weekley's defense attorney, Steven Fishman, argued that one of the elements to convict on involuntary manslaughter is that the suspect "willfully" committed a negligent act resulting in death.
"I'm not really clear if the three elements ... coincide with willfully," Hathaway said. "I don't see that."
Fishman said he asked for the same dismissal during the initial trial of Weekley in the summer of 2013. At that time it was denied. "It was a different case," Fishman said Friday.
"Oh my God," a woman watching the trial, presumably in support of justice for the Black girl, exclaimed when it became apparent Hathaway would grant the motion.
Moran explained his legal understanding of the word "willfully."
"They go in there with all this very powerful equipment ... " he said. "They trained the proper way to use it. He could have avoided injury had he followed his training, He did not ... and as a result someone was killed.”
Aiyana Stanley-Jones died about 2 a.m. May 16, 2010 when Detroit police led by Weekley threw a flash-bang grenade through the front window, broke down the front door and entered.
Weekley, wearing riot gear while carrying a pistol-grip long gun and a ballistics shield, shot the girl through the top of her head.
Weekley during his first trial, which ended in a mistrial when jurors couldn't reach a unanimous decision, admitted to pulling the trigger but said Mertilla Jones, Aiyana's grandmother, swiped the gun causing him to do so.
Multiple Special Response members testified that they were trained never to place their finger on the trigger unless they identified a target and intended to fire.
Weekley could testify when testimony resumes shortly after 11 a.m. Friday.