Jordan Edwards: Ex-police officer sentenced to 15 years for teen’s murder

Former police officer Roy Oliver has sentenced Oliver to 15 years in prison for the shooting death of Jordan Davis.

The jury also fined Oliver $10,000 for the incident.

Roy Oliver sentenced

The murder charges stemmed from the 2017 shooting death of Jordan Edwards when Oliver callously fired into a car of teenagers.

Edwards, a high school freshman, was leaving a party with friends at the time. He was sitting in the passenger’s seat when the shooting occurred. Edwards’s brothers were also in the car at the time of the shooting; all of whom were unarmed.

Oliver, who was fired from his position with the Balch Springs Police Department for violating department policy, was also found not guilty on two charges of aggravated assault.

The verdict came on the second day of deliberations. Oliver said he had no choice to fire at the vehicle because the teen’s car was moving towards his partner.

But it was testimony from Oliver’s partner, along with prosecutor’s assertions, which gave rise in the case. Tyler Ross, Oliver’s partner, said he never felt he was in danger at the time. A prosecutor also charged that Oliver was “trigger happy” during the trial, the Associated Press reports.

National Attention

Edwards case drew national attention, bringing light to yet again another shooting death by the hands of law enforcement while highlighting the racial disparities in police use of force.

Police in Balch Springs, TX originally reported there was an altercation and the vehicle charged towards the officers which prompted the shooting. It would take pressure from Edward’s family lawyer, S. Lee Merritt along with the rallying of the community to bring out the truth.

After video was released, Balch Springs police chief Haber said he “misspoke” and changed his statement. He clarified that the car was in fact driving away from the officers, not toward them. He added, “After reviewing video, I don’t believe that it the shooting met our core values.”

Neighbors told local reporter Gabriel Roxas that the party Edwards left was crowded, with unsupervised, drunk teens fighting before gunshots were fired. According to attorney Lee Merritt, Jordan Edwards “was leaving a house party because he thought it was getting dangerous.”

Mesquite Independent School District, where Edwards was a freshman in high school, said in a statement that he was “a good student who was very well liked by his teachers, coaches, and his fellow students.” Edwards played football at the school, and one of his teammates called him “the best running back I ever played with.”

“It’s not a fairy tale. He really was that great,” prosecutor Mike Snipes said during the trial. “He really did have a 3.5 GPA, he really did want to go to Alabama to play football for them, he really did work out every day, he really did have a million friends, he really did have a nickname ‘Smiley.’ He was the real deal.”

Edwards case is a rarity. Very few police officers are actually charged. If police are charged, they’re very rarely convicted. The National Police Misconduct Reporting Project analyzed 3,238 criminal cases against police officers from April 2009 through December 2010. They found that only 33 percent were convicted, and only 36 percent of officers who were convicted ended up serving prison sentences.

Parents on Roy Oliver being sentenced

15 years for the callous shooting of 15-year-old Jordan Edwards, but Edwards parents say that simply isn’t enough. The prosecution was seeking 60 years.

“They gave a year for his age,” Jordan’s stepmother, Charmaine Edwards, said outside a Dallas County courtroom after the sentence was handed down on Wednesday.

“He can actually see life again after 15 years, and that’s not enough because Jordan can’t see life again.

In an interview with the New York Times, Edwards mother shared her disdain over the sentence.

“I would have been fine if he had got 30 years, or 25 years,” Ms. Edwards said in a phone interview on Thursday.

“Anything over 15, I would have been satisfied. I just feel like 15 years is not nearly enough for the loss of a life, especially when you have people who commit smaller crimes and they get more years than that.”

While the verdict is a victory, sending a message that America will not tolerate police brutality, more progress needs to be made.

Mr. Oliver’s defense lawyers have already begun the process of appealing,

The Edwards family is proceeding with a civil suit against Mr. Oliver and the city of Balch Springs.