Mistrial: Justice for Sam DuBose Is Delayed
July 19, 2015 started for former University of Cincinnati police officer, Ray Tensing, getting dressed for work. He put on a t-shirt with a Confederate flag underneath his uniform.
July 19, 2015 ended for Sam DuBose with a bullet in his brain from Officer Tensing's hand-gun during a routine, albeit unnecessary traffic stop. Mr. DuBose had been on his way home to watch a movie with his young son.
When you visit the corner of Rice and Valencia Streets in the Mount Auburn neighborhood of Cincinnati, south of the University of Cincinnati and north of downtown, you see how much had to have gone wrong for Mr. DuBose to be killed. It's a quiet street corner on a low-traffic side-street with a no-outlet street ending into a T. There was no reason for Officer Tensing to have followed Mr. DuBose that far away from campus, especially for the minor violation of not having his front license plate attached to his car.
Yet, this traffic stop happened. And after approximately two minutes of conversation, Mr. DuBose was dead.
The body camera that Officer Tensing wore told a significantly different story than what he had told his fellow officers and superiors. His story of fearing for his life and being dragged by Mr. DuBose's car was laughable when the video was made available. Laughable, except for a man murdered in cold blood for no real reason.
Hamilton County Prosecutor, Joe Deters, filed murder and voluntary manslaughter charges against Tensing and with a million dollar bond met, Tensing was free to go. Mr. DuBose was buried.
The trial, originally scheduled to begin on October 23, 2016, was delayed until October 31st. When the trial was over, on November 12, 2016, Judge Shanahan declared a mistrial because the jurors were "hopelessly deadlocked." Four wanted Ray Tensing convicted of murder. Eight wanted Ray Tensing convicted of voluntary manslaughter. It was cold comfort for the DuBose family and all their supporters that the jury agreed Ray Tensing was guilty, yet could not agree on which charges to convict. Prosecutor Deters has yet to determine whether the case will be re-tried and he cited the expense of going to trial as a possible deterrent to continuing to seek justice for Sam DuBose.
A few hours after the verdict was read, Black Lives Matter:Cincinnati held a march and rally downtown. The march started at the Hamilton County Courthouse and continued to Washington Park. By all accounts, the protesters were peaceful, and toward the end of the march, an anti-Trump protest joined them. As Carly Molumby of East Price Hill said, "It was amazing unity."
Several hundred people were in attendance and the Cincinnati Police Department maintained a relatively respectful presence, though some protesters at the back of the march felt that CPD presence was more oppressive than necessary, especially with the officers in unmarked cars. The police chief, Eliot Isaac, mingled in the crowd at Washington Park, and City Councilwoman, Yvette Simpson, spoke to the crowd at the courthouse. Mayor Cranley was not present at the rally or protest.
The general feeling appears to be one of hopeful waiting with the expectation that Prosector Deters should re-file charges against Ray Tensing as soon as possible. As Derek Bauman, a Cincinnati resident and former Mason, Ohio police officer put it, "It was clear cut murder. It warranted a murder charge and a murder conviction." Mr. Bauman also chastised the University of Cincinnati police chief and the management of the police department for their aggressive tactics in creating a “no fly zone” around the campus in an effort to thwart crime, saying “They created a condition of putting police officers in a position to fail. This is the responsibility of leadership and management because we know that is not an effective method of (urban) policing.”
However for some activists, such as Brian Taylor, a member of Black Lives Matter: Cincinnati, the verdict was more personal. He stated, “I am disgusted and angry. I have no space within for so-called peace or anyone more concerned with peace than justice. Any grace in me is gone. The verdict reinforces the fact of institutionalized racism. There should be no scenario in which a Black man is victim of a police profile stop, a racist cop with a Confederate flag shirt, who shoots an unarmed man—who sits parked in his car—in the head killing him, then walks free when the majority of a jury were for some sort of conviction. This is why people explode and destroy cities. The system promises justice in exchange for patience and time and time again fails to deliver on its part of the bargain.”
As one of my many protest signs says, “Justice looks like accountability.” As William Gladstone said 150 years ago, “Justice delayed is justice denied.” We look for justice to be no further delayed for Sam DuBose or his family.
Photo credits: Kesia Mbacke, Leurah Eloshiva Sherman