Chicago Cop Killer found NOT guilty

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Below is an article from the Saturday Sun Times newspaper regarding the trial

of the man accused of killing Chicago Police Officer Camp four years

ago. Somehow the verdict just doesn't make sense.

Chicago 9-1-1

Man found not guilty of killing Chicago cop

June 28, 2003

BY <A HREF= " mailto:agolab@... " >ART GOLAB</A> AND <A

HREF= " mailto:cfalsani@... " >CATHLEEN FALSANI</A> Staff Reporters

A jury found accused cop killer Dean not guilty of murder--the first

time in memory that someone charged with killing a police officer in Cook County

was not convicted of the crime. The jury also acquitted Dean of trying to

kill another police officer.

The decision generated outrage from Mayor Daley on down to the rank-and-file

officers who packed the courtroom in support of slain officer Camp.

Prosecutors and police alike were perplexed by the fact that while the jury

failed to come in with a murder verdict, it did find Dean guilty of disarming a

police officer, as well as possession of a stolen car.

Dean was struggling with Camp and another police officer four years ago when

Camp was shot with his own gun near 38th and Cottage Grove. Afterward, police

shot Dean five times when he tried to flee.

" We never expected the jury would find him guilty of disarming a police

officer and not find him guilty of murder, " said police First Deputy Supt.

Philip

Cline. He said he thought the prosecution did a good job.

Prosecutor Mike Hood was visibly distraught as he left the courtroom. " I'm

very disappointed, " he said. " It flies in the face of all the evidence. "

Public defender Woody Jordan said the decision was fair: " The jury found him

guilty of the things he did and not guilty of the things he didn't do. It was

a consistent verdict, both logically and legally. "

Daley was " extremely disappointed " in the decision. " The men and women of the

Chicago Police Department put their lives on the line for us every day, and

they deserved better than this decision, " he said.

When the verdict was read by the clerk, cries of " Oh thank the Lord " broke

out from the one row of Dean's family and friends, who began to hug each other.

The rest of the courtroom, packed with Camp's family and fellow police

officers, was silent.

Dean showed no emotion when the verdict was read, but he nodded his thanks to

the jury as he was led away.

The jury of eight women and four men walked out of courthouse stone-faced,

and refused to say anything to reporters.

Thursday, after five hours of deliberations, they told Judge Henry

they were " unable to reach a verdict. " They were instructed to continue

deliberations, which they did for two more hours before being sent to a hotel.

One law enforcement source speculated that because the jury had deadlocked,

there must have been at least one or more holdouts, but facing a weekend

sequestered in a hotel, the holdouts gave up. Another factor may have been that

the

jury instructions did not allow them to consider a lesser charge, such as

manslaughter, in place of the first-degree murder charge, which carried the

death

penalty.

A lack of physical evidence also dogged the government's case, and

prosecutors and defense attorneys presented dramatically different accounts of

Camp's

death during the six-day trial.

Prosecutors painted Dean, 42, as a " coldhearted " ex-con so desperate to avoid

going back to prison that he killed Camp. Dean admitted he had been driving a

stolen car and was in the area to buy heroin.

Prosecutors said Dean wrestled Camp to the ground when the officer tried to

handcuff him, grabbed Camp's 9mm gun and shot the officer in the face. The

defense argued that Camp's service revolver accidentally discharged while the

officer and Dean were wrestling, and after another officer jumped on Dean's back

in an attempt to break up the fight.

Sentencing was set for July 22. Dean could get three to seven years for each

of the two guilty counts, but that could be extended to seven to 14 years

under certain aggravating circumstances. Also, prosecutors are looking at the

possibility that Dean's criminal history could make him eligible for sentencing

as

a Class X offender, which could get him six to 30 years per count.