Ohio Officer Acquitted of Killing Mom Holding Baby

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Iraq or here -- no justice.

Portion below; whole thing here:
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-SWAT-Shooting.html

LIMA, Ohio (AP) -- A white police officer was acquitted Monday in the drug-raid shooting death of an unarmed black woman that set off protests about how police treat minorities in a city where one in four residents is black.

The all-white jury found Sgt. Joseph Chavalia not guilty of misdemeanor charges of negligent homicide and negligent assault. He had faced up to eight months in jail if convicted of both counts.

Chavalia shot 26-year-old Tarika Wilson and her year-old son she was holding, killing her and hitting him in the shoulder and hand, during a Jan. 4 SWAT raid on her house. One of the child's fingers had to be amputated.

Officers had been looking for Wilson's boyfriend, a suspected drug dealer.

Wilson's family members stormed out of Allen County Common Pleas Court before visiting Judge Richard Knepper finished dismissing the jury.

Outside the courthouse, Wilson's brother, Ivory Austin said he wasn't surprised by the verdict.

''Now he (Chavalia) gets to get back on with his life,'' he said. ''He took my sister's life.''

He said he was hoping someone from the police department would at least admit a mistake was made.

''I'm not saying he went up there to kill her,'' Austin said.

Lima Police Chief Greg Garlock said the jury made the right decision.

''They confirmed what our sense was and our belief was in this,'' he said.

Prosecutors said Chavalia recklessly fired into a bedroom where Wilson and her six children were gathered.

He fired three times at her even though he could not clearly see her or whether she had a weapon, prosecutor Jeffrey Strausbaugh said. ''He couldn't tell Tarika had a child in her arms,'' he said during closing arguments Monday.

Chavalia had testified that he thought his life was in danger when he fired the shots. He said he saw a shadow coming from behind a partially open bedroom door and heard gunshots that he thought were aimed at him. It turned out the gunfire he heard was coming from downstairs, where officers shot two charging pit bulls.