It’s day three of deliberation for the jury in the manslaughter trial of Officer Jeronimo Yanez. On Tuesday, jurors asked the judge if they could get another look at squad dash-cam video of the shooting, and the Facebook live video stream posted by Philando Castile’s girlfriend Diamond Reynolds. Former U-S Attorney for Minnesota, Tom Heffelfinger, says that request shows “the jury is doing their job and focusing on the key bits of evidence, it also tells me that they’re looking closely at the credibility of Officer Yanez’ testimony.” Heffelfinger says he believes the jury will take their time deciding the outcome because they know this a very important case, not only for Philando Castile and Officer Yanez and their families, but also for the state of Minnesota.
At the end of deliberations Tuesday, MNN’s Scott Peterson asked Yanez defense attorney Tom Kelly if he’s concerned about the amount of time it’s taking the jury to reach a decision. Kelly said “you can’t draw any kind of significance from the amount of time a jury spends. It doesn’t really mean anything to me.” The jury got the case Monday afternoon and they deliberated all day Tuesday. They’re trying to determine if Yanez’ use of deadly force was justified when he shot Philando Castile during a traffic stop last July.