From [HERE] and [MORE] A white judge is set to soon decide the fate of a former St. Louis police officer accused of intentionally killing a 24-year-old black man, Anthony Lamar Smith and planting a gun as evidence to justify the fatal shooting.

The ex-officer, Jason Stockley, 36, is facing a first-degree murder charge in the death of Anthony Lamar Smith in an on-duty shooting in December 2011. Stockley left the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department in August 2013. The St. Louis police board settled a wrongful death suit with Smith’s survivors for $900,000 later that year.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department this week surrounded the courthouse and police headquarters with barricades in anticipation of protests, should Stockley be acquitted.

The defendant waived his right to a jury trial, so St. Louis Circuit Judge Timothy Wilson is weighing the evidence. Wilson [in photo] is also white. 

“This is not an easy case,” Wilson wrote in an order granting the defense request to waive the jury trial. “Whatever the ultimate outcome, it will likely be melancholy.”

Stockley, who testified on his own behalf, has pleaded not guilty. He has said he acted in self-defense when he fired at Smith, believing the man was reaching for a gun in his car after a high-speed police chase following a suspected drug deal.

“The issues in this case are factual in nature: (W)as the shooting of Anthony Smith premeditated murder or did Jason Stockley act in lawful self-defense?” Assistant Circuit Attorney Aaron Levinson said in a motion opposing the request for a bench trial.

Dramatic footage — captured on the police vehicle dashcam, an internal vehicle camera and cell phone video of the shooting’s aftermath — has played a key role in the trial that began August 1 and ended a week later, according to CNN affiliate KMOV.

In its opening statement, the prosecution said the officer fired “a kill shot” 6 inches from Smith’s body, KMOV reported. Prosecutors accused Stockley of planting a silver revolver after the shooting, according to the station.

Video from the police vehicle’s in-car camera reportedly shows Stockley taking off his gloves before rummaging through a bag in the police vehicle.

The cellphone video — on which both men’s voices can be heard — shows key movements of police at the scene, including Stockley as he walks from Smith’s car and returns to the police SUV, where he leans into the back door. Then he goes back to Smith’s car and, immediately after the body is pulled out, climbs into the driver’s seat and stays there about 30 seconds. The view does not show the inside of the car.

Some believe that provided an opportunity for Stockley to retrieve and plant the weapon.

Stockley has said he started to get a “clot pack” from the police vehicle to treat Smith’s wounds but then realized it was futile. 

 Prosecutors said that’s when Stockley retrieved the gun, KMOV reports, but it’s impossible to tell from video footage. Lab analysis of the gun showed only Stockley’s DNA on it, according to the criminal complaint.

His attorneys have said the officer handled the gun while recovering and unloading it.