White Judge Re-Assures White Jury About Their Belief in Lies Told by Cop who Murdered Philando Castile

The Mystery Surrounded [their belief that] Castile Pulled A Gun Out. Why would a cop make it up? Because a white jury or white judge will believe it. What is White Collective Power? [MORE] 

From [HERE] The white judge who presided over the manslaughter trial of a Minnesota race soldier cop acquitted in the fatal shooting of black motorist Philando Castile took the unusual step of writing to the jurors to tell them that he supports them despite widespread public criticism of their verdict.

"I write to re-assure you that you faithfully fulfilled the difficult task you were asked to undertake," Ramsey County District Judge William Leary III said in his letter to the jury, the Star Tribune of Minneapolis reported Tuesday.

The jury was mostly white as 10 out of 12 were white. The group also skewed older. Profiles of the jurors are [HERE]

The white judge told the mostly white jurors he was not providing his own opinion of St. Anthony officer Jeronimo Yanez's actions during the fatal traffic stop last July in the St. Paul suburb of Falcon Heights, but wanted to convey that their verdict "was fully supported by a fair interpretation of the evidence and the law you were obligated to apply." [It Would Be Better If They had no eyes or ears. At least there would have been no possibility of misunderstanding.]

The white judge also may be casting shade on the $3 million settlement reached last week between St. Anthony, Minn and Castille's family. No doubt the City did not feel the same as the judge.  

Leary sent his letter a few days after authorities released [above] dramatic dashboard camera video showing the Latino officer firing seven shots at the 32-year-old elementary school cafeteria worker in a matter of seconds, just after Castile informed Yanez he was armed. 

In his letter, Leary broke down the multiple elements of the law that prosecutors were required to prove beyond a reasonable doubt, including whether Yanez acted with gross negligence and recklessness.

"The state's failure to prove any of the required elements of the charge required that you, the jury, return a verdict of not guilty," Leary wrote.

Leary wrote that the criticism has focused primarily on reaction to the squad car video and issues that the jury was never asked to address.

"You were never asked to decide whether racism continues to exist, whether certain members of our community are disproportionately affected by police tactics, or whether police training is ineffective," he said. "You were simply asked to determine, beyond a reasonable doubt, whether a crime had been committed."

On July 6, 2016, Philando Castile was fatally shot by Jeronimo Yanez, a race soldier cop, after being pulled over in Falcon Heights, a suburb of St. Paul. Castile was driving a car with his girlfriend, Diamond Reynolds, and her four-year-old daughter as passengers when he was pulled over by Yanez and another officer. According to Reynolds, after being asked for his license and registration, Castile told the officer he was licensed to carry a weapon and had one in his pants pocket. Reynolds said Castile was shot while reaching for his ID after telling Yanez he had a gun permit and was armed. The officer shot Castile seven times.

Diamond Reynolds live-streamed a video on Facebook in the immediate aftermath of the shooting. It shows her interacting with the armed officer as a mortally injured Castile lies slumped over, moaning slightly and his left arm and side bloody.

On the video Reynolds narrated that the officer said, "Don't move" and as Castile was putting his hands back up, the officer shot him in the arm four or five times. Reynolds told the officer, "You shot four bullets into him, sir. He was just getting his license and registration, sir." Reynolds also said "Please don't tell me he's dead," while Yanez exclaims: "I told him not to reach for it! I told him to get his hand open!"

At trial Yanez, testified that he fired his weapon because Castile had his hand on a gun, not his wallet and identification papers. He said that he actually saw the gun. 

The Cop's Two Versions of What Happened Cannot Both Be True. 1) The day after the incident occurred Yanez explained to police officials that he was not sure whether Castile was reaching for a gun. He told the police investigators he never actually saw a gun [MORE] and [complaint PDF]. Just minutes after the shooting in the dashcam audio/video of the incident Yanez can be heard being questioned by St. Anthony Police Officer Tressa Sunde and telling her:

 [Castile] was sitting in the car, seat belted. I told him, 'Can I see your license?' And then, he told me he had a firearm. I told him not to reach for it and (sigh) when he went down to grab, I told him not to reach for it (clears throat) and then he kept it right there, and I told him to take his hands off of it, and then he (sigh) he had his, his grip a lot wider than a wallet .... And I don't know where the gun was, he didn't tell me where the fucking gun was, and then it was just getting hinky, he gave, he was just staring ahead, and then I was getting fucking nervous, and then I told him, I know I fucking told him to get his fucking hand off his gun [MORE] 

Previously Yanez also inconsistently stated to police investigators, "Castille put his hand around something."  He said Castile's hand took a C-shape, "like putting my hand up to the butt of the gun." Yanez said he then lost view of Castile's hand. "I know he had an object and it was dark," he said. "And he was pulling it out with his right hand. [MORE]

Yanez also said he thought or believed Castile had the gun in his right hand and he had "no option" but to shoot. [MORE] 

2) However, one year later, at the trial he said that he actually saw the gun and Castile had pulled it out. Something that Castile's girlfriend Diamond Reynolds denied. Castile also denied it; as his last dying words were,  'I'm not pulling it out,' on a video released by proscecutors during trial. On the video Reynolds also responded by saying, 'he's not pulling it out."  

Specifically, Yanez, testified he fired his weapon because Castile had his hand on a gun, not his wallet and identification papers.

"I had no other choice. I didn't want to shoot Mr. Castile. That wasn't my intention," CNN affiliate WCCO reported. "I thought I was going to die." 

"It's your testimony today that you saw Mr. Castile pull out an object?" prosecutor Rick Dusterhoft said Friday.

"It was a gun," Yanez said.

"You said he pulled it out?"

"Correct," Yanez said.

"And he said he wasn't (pulling it out)?"

"Correct, but it doesn't always mean that's what he was doing," Yanez said.

Previously, Yanez said

"When Roseville police officers arrived you never warned them there was a gun did you?" Dusterhoft said.

"No," Yanez said.

On the video Yanez is yelling, “Don’t pull it out!” However, a year later on the witness stand he said he saw a gun. 

Prosecutors said Yanez is not credible.

“Based upon the evidence, we believe that Castile never removed, nor tried to remove, his handgun from his front right pocket, which was a foot deep,” said Ramsey County Attorney John Choi. Yanez’s partner also didn’t see a gun. [MORE]

On cross examination the race soldier cop was asked,

"When Roseville police officers arrived you never warned them there was a gun did you?" 

"No," Yanez said. [MORE]

Yanez attorney Earl Gray said he appreciated Leary's letter.

"He told the jury they followed the law and did their duty," Gray said. "I'm sure the jurors felt better."

The Ramsey County Attorney's Office did not respond to the newspaper's request for comment Monday, and did not immediately respond to a request from The Associated Press Tuesday.

"It's unusual to do a letter after the fact, but there's nothing inappropriate about this letter," said local defense attorney Joe Tamburino, who was not involved in the case. "I say hats off to him for doing this, because the jury received an inordinate amount of criticism. The issue was whether the state proved its case, not greater social issues."