A white Virginia police officer was convicted of voluntary manslaughter after he killed an unarmed black 18-year-old last year.
Stephen Rankin, 36, faces up to 10 years in prison for the shooting death of William Chapman. Rankin killed Chapman in the parking lot of a Walmart superstore in Portsmouth in April 2015 after he tried to stop him for suspected shoplifting.
The conviction comes after a string of acquittals of police officers in high-profile killings of black men and women throughout the US, prompting criticisms that law enforcement officers are not held accountable for their actions.
State prosecutors argued that Rankin killed Chapman intentionally after resisting arrest and attempting to flee.
“The law does not say that because you do not comply you have to die,” said commonwealth’s attorney Stephanie Morales her closing argument, as reported by the Guardian. Ms Morales said that Chapman should have faced prosecution for allegedly resisting arrest.
“The defendant brought a gun to what at worst was a fistfight,” she added.
Portsmouth Police terminated Rankin after he was indicted for murder in the Chapman case.
Defence attorneys maintained that Rankin attempted to use his Taser on Chapman, but it had been knocked from his hand. When asked by prosecutors why he did not attempt to tackle the fleeing Chapman, Rankin said that he did not think he could win in an unarmed fight.
What exactly Chapman was accused of shoplifting remains unclear.
Chapman is the second person shot and killed by Rankin – a detail omitted from the trial.
In 2012, Rankin shot and killed unarmed cook Kirill Denyakin, who was allegedly banging loudly on a door outside of an apartment complex. Rankin said Denyakin charged him while reaching into his waistband, when the former officer shot him 11 times.
A grand jury did not indict Rankin in that case.
