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Juror: We Voted ‘Not Guilty’ For Tulsa Cop After Getting Hungry, Tired

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Amber Randall Civil Rights Reporter
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A juror from the Tulsa police officer trial suggested Thursday that hunger and fatigue played a role in how the jury decided to clear the police officer of manslaughter charges.

The unidentified juror, speaking to the Frontier anonymously, was one of twelve jurors who found Tulsa Officer Betty Shelby not guilty in the 2016 fatal shooting of Terence Crutcher, an unarmed black man.

During the jury deliberation, the jurors began voting “not guilty” as they grew increasingly hungry and tired after being in the room for about six hours,the juror told the Frontier.

“We also didn’t know how long we would have to deliberate,” he explained. “We were thinking ‘How long do we have to stay in here before they do a mistrial?’ I was kind of irritated because I was hungry, I was tired — we all were — and we kind of felt that we needed to just come to a decision.”

When they first sat down, the votes on Shelby’s case were mixed. Six of them believed Shelby was not guilty, two thought she was guilty, and the other four remained unsure.

“The next time we voted, we kind of went around the table and we all were supposed to explain our position. When it got to me I kind of felt like I should commit one way, and I committed to not guilty,” the juror continued.

The juror added that most of the jury believed that Shelby was in the wrong, but the prosecution didn’t do a good job of presenting their case. Also, they were a little unsure that her actions merited first degree manslaughter charges.(RELATED: Tulsa Cop Flees Courthouse After Being Declared Not Guilty In Shooting [VIDEO])

“There were so many holes in their case. We really felt like they could have gotten a conviction had they presented it better,” he said.

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