ST. PAUL (CN) — The jury that will determine the fate of the Minnesota police officer who fatally shot Philando Castile heard opening statements Monday, testimony from two witnesses and watched video of the fatal shooting.
Castile’s killing received worldwide attention because his girlfriend, Diamond Reynolds, who was in the car with her 4-year-old daughter when St. Anthony police Officer Jeronimo Yanez shot Castile five times, live-streamed the immediate aftermath on Facebook. Yanez has been charged with manslaughter.
Reynolds said Yanez shot Castile after he told the officer he was licensed to carry a weapon and had one in his pocket. She said Yanez killed him as he was reaching for his ID. The Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office called it a homicide. He was declared dead about 20 minutes after Yanez shot him, on July 6, 2016. St. Anthony is a suburb of St. Paul.
Day one of the trial Monday surprised court watchers because of the rapidity of the jury selection and the brisk progress during three and one-half hours after the trial began at 1:45 p.m.
The 15 jurors, which includes three alternates, include nine men and six women; all are white except for one man and one woman.
The defense attempted to strike juror 17 from the pool. Juror 17 is from Ethiopia and was the only other nonwhite person in the pool. Yanez’s attorneys said juror 17 did not know enough about the criminal justice system, that the case is “complicated,” that “she's just going to be lost” and that “she has no idea of the criminal justice system.”
Ramsey County Judge William Leary III, however, said he had conducted the initial questioning and juror 17 seemed to be a fairly competent student when asked about the criminal justice system.
Referring to juror 18, who is in her 40s and white, Leary said she did not display any more sophistication yet the defense failed to question her about the criminal justice system.
With the jury seated, Leary gave them preliminary instructions and reviewed the charges against Yanez.
The defense reviewed eight exhibits they will present at trial, which include the original and replicas of items found at the crime scene. They include a pair of shorts worn by Castile, a holster found in his pocket, Castile’s wallet, which contained his driver’s license and permit to carry a gun, and his Diamondback gun.
Prosecutor Richard Dusterhoft opened by telling the jury that Yanez pulled Castile over because he looked like a suspect who had robbed a gas station a few days ago: that he “just looked like one of the robbers.”
Dusterhoft then showed jurors a 90-second long video of the shooting, taken from the squad car camera, the audio from a body mike.
In it, Castile says: “Sir, I do have a firearm on me.”
Yanez says immediately: “OK, don't reach for it. Don't pull it out.”
Castile replied: “I'm not pulling it out.”
Within seconds, Yanez shoots into the vehicle seven times, hitting Castile five times and barely missing Reynolds and her daughter, Dae-Anna.
Yanez shouts: “Shots fired! Fuck!” And: “I told him to keep his hand out!”
Yanez can be heard heavily panting.
When the video ended, Dusterhoft told jurors that Castile was shot twice in the heart and that his final words were: “I wasn’t reaching.”